The Lazarus Project
by Stephen Mason
Summary: Three Years after the defeat of the 17th Angel the world is a very different place
1. Proluge

Disclaimer:  
This (and all preceding parts) is 'fan fiction' it is not designed  
to infringe on any of the rights of the companies (or individuals) who  
do own the rights to Neon Genesis Evangelion. I am not making any  
money out of it so it would be quite pointless to sue me.   
  
Warning:  
This story diverges from the Series around Episode 25-26, it also  
acknowledges some of what happens (and what is revealed) in the Movies  
so there are some SPOILERS. It is also worthy to note, though, that if  
you haven't seen the whole Series this story won't make much sense.  
  
Author(Stephen Mason)'s Note:  
All constructive input is appreciated. In fact if you have any  
thing to say about my writing at all I encourage you to email me.  
My email is: hagenclaw@icqmail.com   
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
NEON GENSIS EVANGELION  
  
THE LAZARUS PROJECT  
PROLOGUE   
  
  
  
Deep within a dim holographic chamber the 12 black monoliths of  
SEELE gaze eyelessly at each other.  
SEELE 01: "Did the UN agree to the terms of the trade treaty as they  
were told to?"  
SEELE 04: "They did. Despite the events of three years ago the UN  
still bends to our will."  
SEELE 06: "The events of three years ago."  
SEELE 11: "We lost everything we had spent so many years working  
towards."  
SEELE 06: "All the Angles were defeated, but for what?"  
SEELY 05: "Evangelions five through to thirteen, destroyed."  
SEELE 02: "The Lance and its replica lost beneath the water."  
SEELE 04: "Unit one, now beyond being of use."  
SEELE 02: "The instrumentality project rendered unfeasible."  
SEELE 05: "The construction of more Evangelions banned by the UN."  
SEELE 11: "The only time they did not bend."  
SEELE 04: "And what an irony that it was a boy who brought about the  
end of all our careful plans."  
SEELE 05: "More ironic that we never expected it."  
SEELE 06: "Indeed. We all believed that only one man could or would  
oppose us. Yet it was his son who was our undoing."  
SEELE 02: "This musing on the failures of NERV is of no use to us. We  
still possess our power over mankind's destiny, despite what  
we have lost. Anyway NERV may yet succeed, our plans may yet  
be realised."  
SEELE 01: "Yes, there is still the Lazarus project."  
  
  
  
* * * 


	2. Chapter 1

Author: Stephen Mason Email: hagenclaw@icqmail.com  
See Prologue for Disclaimer + Author's notes. Now let's continue :)  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The train clattered out of the tunnel. Touji Suzuhara looked out  
the small window of the train. Stretching out in front of him was a  
vast, pale blue lake. In its shallows and around its edges were the  
remains of many buildings. Some were pinnacles of twisted metal and  
concrete, others were squatting heaps of rubble. As he watched a  
series of ripples spread out across the water's surface, and briefly a  
purple spike rose above the water before disappearing below again.  
"Tokyo Three." Touji said quietly, as the train carried him and  
his companion into another tunnel, "the forgotten city."  
  
  
  
NEON GENSIS EVANGELION  
  
THE LAZARUS PROJECT  
PART 1: THE FORGTTEN WAR  
  
  
  
With a low drawn out screech the train finally came to a halt deep  
beneath the Geo-Front. The doors slid apart with a hiss and Touji  
stepped out, his artificial leg making a dull clicking sound as he  
walked. He had grown in the past three years, but his hair was still a  
slightly wild, black brush. He was clean-shaven and his dark eyes held  
a look of deep resignation. He was dressed in lose fitting clothes but  
it was still easy to see that, despite his injuries, he kept himself  
fit.  
  
The station was little more than a concrete platform on a low  
hill. It was high enough for Touji to get a good look at the  
landscape. Here, beneath the Geo-Front, where once manmade forests,  
lakes and watermelon patches had lain, there was now only barren dirt.  
The landscape was pockmarked with craters, and dominated by the huge  
automated defence towers and missile batteries. The distant drone of  
heavy machinery, and deep generators had replaced the soft hum of  
people, vehicles, and animals. Even the air itself smelled desolate.  
  
A NERV jeep was parked at the edge of the narrow platform. Not to  
far from it, and close enough for Touji not to miss her, stood Asuka.  
She was three years older than when he had last seen her and she  
looked it. She was almost as tall as he was and she filled out the  
creamy coloured NERV uniform well. Her hair flowed down her back like  
an orange-red sea. The set of her face still spoke of an underlying,  
rock hard determination. As she stood there she regarded him with a  
sort of professional indifference.  
  
"Touji Suzuhara." She said stiffly.  
  
"Nice to see you too, Asuka." He replied.  
  
Hikari emerged from the train to stand beside him. She had long  
ago abandoned the twin pigtails for a single ponytail tied loosely at  
the base of her neck. She too had grown up, her freckles almost (but  
not quite) faded away. She wore a simple green dress with a flaring  
skirt.  
  
Asuka's business-like demeanour broke as soon as she saw her old  
friend. "Hikari!" she exclaimed.  
  
"Asuka," Hikari said running forward to embrace her friend, "It's  
been so long."  
  
"You never said you were coming in your letters. I haven't seen  
you since... since Misato's funeral." Hikari gave Asuka a sympathetic  
smile; she knew how Misato's death was still painful to her friend.  
  
"You're always saying that you can't leave because you're on  
constant alert." Hikari explained. "And civilians aren't allowed down  
here. So when Touji got the letter, and it said that he could bring  
along one other person, I just couldn't let the opportunity pass."  
  
"You still making lunches for this stooge then?"  
  
"If it weren't for her cooking I'd probable stop dating her."  
Touji said walking up to Hikari's side. She elbowed him playfully in  
the stomach as she smiled at Asuka.  
  
"I do take care of his appetites." Hikari said. Touji just laughed  
  
"The Commander asked me to bring you straight to the Command  
Center. We'll take my jeep." Asuka said leading them across the  
concrete. Soon they were underway and the jeep was kicking up a plume  
of dust as it speed down the road. It would rock now and then as they  
dodged the occasional fifteen-foot pothole. Asuka drove with the same  
offhand recklessness as her pervious guardian.  
  
"Once we get to head quarters you will be meeting the Commander."  
Asuka advised Touji over the noise of the jeep. "Inside it's NERV  
personal only, so Hikari, you will have to wait outside. There is  
plenty of room in the underground apartment blocks and you'll each be  
given a room there, so you could probably use that time to check it  
out."  
  
"Separate rooms won't be necessary." Hikari said with a small  
smile.  
  
"What?! You two are sleeping together?"  
  
"Well I can see your as tactful as ever Asuka." Touji drawled.  
  
"You never put 'that' in your letters."  
  
  
  
Commander Fuyutsuki's Office was similar to Gendou Ikari's in its  
featureless interior, but it was neither as large nor as dark. Where  
Gendou had favoured an impressive scale Fuyutsuki had gone for a  
merely functional size. Instead of the black marble like floor there  
were the simple grey panels used in the rest of the base. The back  
wall was made up of a series of sloping windows that looked up at the  
distant roof of the Geo-Front. When Asuka and Touji entered they found  
him standing with his back to them, gazing out those windows.  
  
Asuka saluted. "Lieutenant Asuka Langley Sohryu reporting. I have  
brought Mr Suzuhara as you instructed Sir."  
  
"At ease Asuka." He said turning around. He was a tall man and his  
strict, grey uniform suited the hardened lines of his face. "So this  
is Touji Suzuhara, the fourth candidate who was chosen by the now  
dissolved Marduke Institute." He fixed Touji with an iron hard stare.  
"You've probably already guessed why you were called here, to the last  
remaining branch of NERV. However do not give your answer right away."  
  
The Commander paused as the floor beneath them trembled and thin  
streams of dust fell briefly from the ceiling. Touji's eyes widened,  
while the other two seemed un-phased. "What was that?" he asked in  
shock.  
  
"With the large amount of damage that the Geo-Front has incurred  
over the years it has become somewhat... unstable." The Commander  
explained. "More importantly Mr Suzuhara; it would be best if you  
fully understand our situation. You must go into this with both eyes  
open." He retrieved a red folder from his desk and handed it to Touji.  
"This will explain most of it. Asuka will tell you the rest.  
Lieutenant," he finished formally, "Dr Akagi is waiting for both of  
you in the Fifth cage. That will be all. Good-day Mr Suzuhara."  
  
After they were dismissed Touji leaned close to Asuka's ear. "I  
thought Shinji's fa... I mean Mr Ikari was NERV's Commander."  
  
"He was." Asuka replied as she led him to the briefing room. "But  
Commander Ikari disappeared shortly after the third battle against  
Unit 01. He has been assumed dead."  
  
They passed through two large doors and stepped onto one of the  
myriad of moving walkways in the base. Touji opened the red folder and  
began to flip through the pages. On the first page was a colour photo  
of a huge white creature pinned to a red cross by two Progression  
Knives driven into its palms. Its limp head was smooth and featureless  
except for a grey, mask-like face with seven eyes. Beneath the image  
was written 'Lilith, Unit 01 and the Threat of Third Impact'.  
  
Being a civilian when the 'accident' had occurred Touji had only  
seen the censored news footage from NERV's PR department. Reading the  
contents of the red folder filled in a lot of the blanks.  
  
According to the report; two days after the defeat of the 17th  
Angel the third child was recorded entering Unit 01's Launch bay. two  
hours later Unit 01 had activated by its self, broke free of its  
restraints and the cryo-stasis, and climbed up the 32nd launch shaft.  
A sync ratio of 100 percent was part of the limited information that  
could be retrieved from the Eva.  
  
The first attempt to stop the rouge Evangelion was using Unit 02  
with the first child as pilot. This failed and left the pilot in a  
coma. The second attempt had utilised the mass produced Eva Series;  
Units 05 through to 13. There was a picture beside the brief of this  
battle showing a white Eva with a smooth and maggot white head. The  
only features on its face were small slitted eyes and a jagged clown  
-like grin. It held a blue, two pronged spear, apparently a replica of  
a weapon used against the 15th Angel.  
  
This too had failed. The UN had been so appalled it had banned the  
production of any more Eva's and reduced NERV to a single branch, this  
one, dedicated to containing the threat of Unit 01.  
  
Touji stared at the last page of the report as the walkway hummed  
beneath his feet. After a moment he looked up at Asuka's back. "Is  
there any chance he may still be alive?" he asked, not needing to say  
whom he meant.  
  
"We don't know." Asuka replied quietly, without turning around.  
"Even if the life support was working at maximum he couldn't last  
three years. But if he had died the Eva should have stopped  
functioning. But it's not a matter of retrieval any more."  
  
The moving walkway stoped abruptly at the entrance to the fifth  
cage. Inside there was a heavy smell of salt water and something  
metallic. It was dark, fluorescent globes hanging from a distant  
ceiling illuminating only a single, long gangway.  
  
Dr Akagi was waiting for them on that gangway. She was dressed in  
a long, white lab coat and looked much the same as she did three years  
ago when she had told Touji he was the fourth child.  
"Ah, there you are." She said, looking up from the red clipboard  
she was holding. She noticed the red folder in Touji's hand. "So you  
know about the rest then?"  
  
"Yes," Touji replied holding up the folder, "but it doesn't tell  
me why I'm here."  
  
"No, it wouldn't. You're here because of the Lazarus project. You  
see over the last three years we have made many attempts to first  
restrain Unit 01 and later to destroy it. However despite the valiant  
efforts of our pilot we have been unable to succeed. Between Unit 01's  
S^2 organ, its regenerative abilities, and its incredible resistance  
to damage it is virtually unstoppable.  
  
"With all the data from the pervious battles the Magi have rated  
our chance of success with a single Eva and conventional weapons  
against Unit 01 at 12%. However during the battle with Eva Series Unit  
01 somehow was able to recall the Lance of Longinus from orbit. Since  
then it has lain at the bottom of Tokyo Three lake. Armed with the  
Lance the Magi have rated our chance of success at 76%.  
  
"We do have a problem; the only time Unit 01 is far enough from  
the Lake to make the retrieval of the Lance possible is when it tries  
to reach Terminal Dogma. We have to maintain an Eva on constant alert  
to prevent Unit 01 from getting in to contact with Lilith and causing  
Third impact. With a second Evas one could Guard Terminal Dogma while  
the other retrieves the Lance. But, with Rei incapacitated, we need  
someone to pilot the second Eva."  
  
"But you don't have two Eva's." Touji said, hoping his guess had  
been wrong. "The UN banned the production of any more."  
  
"Production; yes. Repair; no."  
  
"What do you mean?" Touji asked getting a horrid sinking feeling.  
"The heart of the Lazarus project is the resurrection of  
Evangelion Unit 03."  
  
Inside his head Touji swore. "I was in that thing when Unit 01  
killed it the first time. It was torn to shreds. There wasn't much  
left of it."  
  
"Not much, but enough. Add to that the sections salvaged from the  
bodies of the Eva Series as well as parts requisitioned as spares for  
Unit 02, and you have one whole Eva."  
  
The chamber's lights flared into brightness with a solid metallic  
clunk. There, rising up out of the water that filled the chamber, was  
Evangelion Unit 03. It was the same brutish face Touji remembered,  
only an unpainted, metallic grey instead of black. The chest and  
shoulders that were above the water were a strange patchwork of white,  
black and metallic grey. For some reason it reminded him of the old  
Frankenstein movies.  
  
"It has taken us the better part of two years to rebuild this  
Eva." Said the doctor. "But now it is complete we need only a pilot to  
put our final plan into action."  
  
"So you want me to pilot it." His voice was quiet as he held on to  
his patience. It was worse than he had expected. To see that thing  
that had haunted his nightmares brought back to life.  
  
"The Marduke Institute was dissolved a long time ago, we can't get  
any new pilots."  
  
"You were the designated pilot for Unit 03." Asuka said. "I mean  
you have been in it been in it before. Which is more than can be said  
of any one else."  
  
Touji's patience snapped. "You want me to get back inside that,  
that thing. Last time it cost me an arm and a leg, literally." He  
said, holding up his stiff, prosthetic arm.  
  
"There is no one else." Asuka said, and for the first time, she  
sounded very weary. "This is our last chance to defeat Unit 01. We  
don't have any options left."  
  
"I spent seven months in re-hab after that, if it hadn't been for  
Hikari's support I..." He was cut off as warning sirens sounded and  
spinning red lights descended from the ceiling.  
  
"Warning, behaviour pattern 23. All personal to their posts."  
  
Asuka swore in German and dashed from the room. Dr Akagi shook her  
head sadly and began to follow. "Wait," Touji said, his shock at being  
cut off wearing off, "what is going on?"  
  
The Doctor turned to him and spoke mater-of-factlly, "Behaviour  
pattern 23; it means "Unit 01 is trying to dig through the Geo-Front."  
  
  
  
Asuka held on tightly as Unit 02 emerged from the launch shaft.  
She heard the restraints release with loud clunk and the Eva slouched  
forward. "Do we have a fix on it?" she demanded as she used Unit 02's  
hands to pick up two missile launches from the rack that had emerged  
from the ground beside her.  
  
Maya's voice crackled over the Eva's com. "He's made it 85% of the  
way down the 17th shaft, he's now attacking the last armoured  
barrier."  
  
Asuka swore in German again. "That gives me less than a minute."  
She muttered. She guided the Eva's steps till she had positioned  
herself between NERV Headquarters and the ruins of one of the  
buildings that had fallen from the ceiling of the Geo-Front.  
  
Back in the command center Dr Akagi and Touji arrived to look up  
at the huge holographic display. Hyuga spun around in his seat. "Sir,  
Unit 01 has breached the final armoured doors."   
  
Fuyutsuki stood behind the desk on the central pillar. "Asuka," he  
said, speaking to the command centre's general microphone. "remember,  
we just want to dissuade Unit 01, we don't want to be drawn into full  
combat here."  
  
Back in the Eva Asuka nodded. "Right." Just then part of the  
Geo-Front's ceiling gave way, the rubble pouring onto the ruined  
building in front of Unit 02. The rubble had barely settled when a  
large purple form followed it. Unit 01 fell slowly, seeming to defy  
gravity. When it hit the rubble, it did so softly, without dislodging  
anything.  
  
Asuka levelled Unit 02's rocket launchers at Unit 01 as it  
clambered down the ruins. She unfolded her AT field as it began to  
advance towards her.  
  
Back in the Command Center Touji gasped in awe as the screen  
changed to show a full image of Unit 01. The towering purple android  
walked with heavy steps, its shoulders slumped, its head resting  
forward, its mouth open. Its armour was covered in scars, the battery  
pack on one shoulder had been broken into a jagged edge and its left  
hand was blackened up to the elbow.  
  
Up above Unit 02 AT field met Unit 01's. The purple Eva's head  
whipped up, its shining eyes fixing on the red Eva blocking its path.  
Two more paces and it stoped, then began a low growl that reverberated  
out across the entire cavern.  
  
"Sir?" Asuka asked, shifting the weight of the twin rocket  
launchers.  
  
"Hold, Lieutenant." Fuyutsuki said across the com.  
  
Suddenly Unit 01 reared up, its growl becoming a vicious roar. It  
swung its arms wide, like a gorilla making a challenge. Curling its  
fingers like claws it slashed at the air between them.  
  
"Hold." The commander's voice ripped across the com. Asuka held.  
Unit 02 didn't even flinch.  
  
After several moments of this vicious display Unit 01 finally  
subsided. Almost contemptuously it shifted gaze from Unit 02 to a bare  
patch of earth near the black pyramid. Underneath that patch was the  
NERV special Hospital. Unit 01 let out a long, mournful moan. It  
stoped only when the ground trembled from a small quake. It gave Unit  
02 one last contemptuous glance before turning away and heading back  
to the ruined building. Climbing to the top it then leapt straight up,  
rising until it was able to grab on to the lip of the hole. Hauling  
itself up it began to climb back up the shaft.  
  
"Well done Asuka."  
  
Well done? Asuka thought to herself sourly as her Eva descended  
towards the cage. I didn't do anything, that thing just decided it  
didn't want to fight today. Once Unit 02 was back in the cage the  
entry plug was ejected. Asuka stepped out and ran her hands through  
her LCL soaked hair. Touji was waiting for her on the gangway.  
  
"I'll do it." Was all he said.  
  
  
* * *  



	3. Chapter 2

Author: Stephen Mason Email: hagenclaw@icqmail.com  
See Prologue for Disclaimer + Author's notes. Now let's continue. :)  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
With a hollow click the lights in the holographic chamber flick  
on. They illuminate Commander Fuyutsuki as he stands in the middle of  
the room. His eyes slightly down cast in the face of the black  
monoliths of SEELE.  
SEELE 01: "What are you doing here 'Professor' Fuyutsuki."  
SEELE 04: "Why did you contact us?"  
SEELE 06: "You know SEELE had disassociated itself from NERV.  
SEELE 04: "And your failures."  
"And yet you still provide our funding." Fuyutsuki said, looking  
up boldly. After so many years the expressionless monoliths no longer  
fazed him.   
SEELE 06: "With Unit 01 unchained, and Lilith still deep within  
Terminal Dogma, there still exists the threat that third impact will  
be initiated."  
SEELE 02: "Thus NERV must still function in its primary capacity; to  
guard against such a threat."  
SEELE 01: "This does not answer our original question though. Why are  
you here?"  
Fuyutsuki took a deep breath. "The fourth child has agreed. The  
Lazarus Project has entered its final phase."  
SEELE 02: "Ah. The re-activation of Unit 03 and its use as a diversion  
while Unit 02 retrieves the lance of Longinus."  
SEELE 01: "Then we may finally see an end to this. One way or another.  
  
  
  
  
NEON GENSIS EVANGELION  
  
THE LAZARUS PROJECT  
PART 2: RECOLLECTION AND RE-ACTIVATION  
  
  
  
  
Where am I? (in Shinji's voice)  
I can't see anything.  
There is no sound.  
It feels... wet.  
It smells like... blood?  
Is this the Eva?  
  
  
  
  
It was the day of Unit 03's Activation test, and while it was not  
necessary for Asuka to be there, she felt that, personally, she  
couldn't stay away. If Unit 03 failed to activate, or rejected the  
pilot, it would be the end of everyone's hopes. The end of her own  
future.  
  
She had taken a short cut through the NERV Special Hospital. It  
was one of the closest buildings to the Activation cages, for obvious  
reasons. Her footsteps echoed as she walked, there was no other sound.  
The bare, white walled halls were virtually empty. There were few  
current patients, though Asuka had been one of them often enough, and  
only one permanent patient.  
  
She paused at the open door of one small room. Inside there was a  
single, starched hospital bed. It wasn't empty. In the bed lay a pale  
girl of 18. Her blue hair lay on top of the sheets and was so long it  
stretched past her waist. One thin wrist also lay on top of the covers  
and several tubes, leading from various drips, were tucked to a  
bandage wrapped around it. Her eyes were closed, just as they had been  
for nearly three years.  
  
There was also a small table beside the bed. On it was a small  
brown glasses case and an old sdat media player. Asuka recognised it  
as Shinji's but she didn't know how it had gotten here.  
  
Asuka looked down on Rei's sleeping form with a sad expression.  
Now, after three years of being the only person able to pilot an Eva,  
she regretted not getting closer to her fellow pilot. And perhaps, she  
even missed her.  
  
How many times had they piloted the Evas together? How many sync  
tests had they sat through together? How many times had she competed  
with her against the Angels? How may times had she called her 'wonder  
girl' or 'bitch'? Rei had never spoken unless it was necessary, silent  
most of the time. And now, and now she would probably never speak  
again.  
  
What was the last thing I ever said to her. Asuka thought. She  
found the memory and her mind recoiled. The last thing she had ever  
said to Rei was; 'Your nothing but a doll, I hate you'. Asuka shook  
her head sadly, her regrets rising as they always did when she thought  
about the past.  
  
Pulling herself out of her reprieve Asuka abandoned the small  
hospital room. There were important things going on and she had no  
time to waste on the dead.  
  
  
  
  
The young technician Maya turned around in her small seat in the  
monitoring room. "Where is commander Fuyutsuki?" she asked Dr Akagi.  
"I would have thought..."  
  
"The commander wont be joining us today, he has a meeting in Tokyo  
2." The doctor stood slightly behind the technicians siting at the  
long control panel that dominated the room. Set into the wall in front  
of the bench was a wide, reinforced window that looked out into the  
test cage. It also gave an ideal view of the patchwork face of Eva  
Unit 03.  
  
Inside the Eva Touji sat in the pilot's seat, the LCL tasted  
strange in his mouth. He was wearing a black plug-suit, with his  
synthetic limbs firmly sealed inside. He was feeling uncomfortable, it  
wasn't a physical sensation as such, but rather it had to do with the  
memories that being in the entry-plug brought back. He forced them  
down, refusing to acknowledge them or the discomfort.  
  
"Are you ready Touji?" The doctor's voice filtered over the  
intercom.  
  
"As ready as I'll ever be." He said dryly.  
"That will have to do." She replied. "Commence first connection."  
With that the dull hum of the Eva's power circuits filled the air  
and the LCL.  
  
"Pattern green."  
"All restraints nominal."  
"Unit 03 entering second contact."  
  
"Harmonics normal." In front of Dr Akagi the various graphs and  
monitors flashed their lights in reassuring fashion. Not a hint of a  
warning sign.  
  
"Initiating third connection."  
"Self-stata mind graph; stable."  
  
Touji began to get a strange feeling, like his senses were  
becoming fuzzy and he was no long the right size for his own body. It  
was not comfortable.  
  
"Commence A10 nerve connections." Said the doctor.  
"Connections 1 to 67 stable."  
"Approaching borderline connection."  
"There is some kind of..."  
  
Suddenly the screen in front of Touji went blank, the lights in  
the Eva flicked off and the com went dead. He was plunged into  
soundless darkness. Something told him that this was not part of the  
procedure. Before he could react though the screen lit back up, but  
the image felt different, like it was going direct to his brain,  
without bothering to ask his eyes first.  
  
The Eva was no longer in the cage, in fact it was no longer the  
same Eva. "Holy shit, no!" Touji said, appalled by what he was seeing.  
Twin black arms stretched out from either side of his vision. They had  
their hands wrapped around the throat of Unit 01, slowly chocking the  
life of the synchronised pilot.  
  
"No." Touji cried, clawing back in the seat, his heart hammering,  
"I don't want to see this again. I don't want to remember it."  
  
Unit 01's jaws sprang apart and it's own hands began to move.  
Then, as suddenly as it came, the vision ended. Now the screen showed  
him only blue sky, and flat, white clouds. For several moments Touji  
just sat there breathing heavily. That had to have been a memory from  
Unit 03, he knew that very well, but why had it resurfaced, was it  
because he had been the pilot then too? And what was he seeing now?  
  
Sitting up he tried to change the perspective and was surprised to  
find it easy to do. It appeared he was in another Eva, this one white  
rather that black. It was lying amidst the rubble at the edge of Tokyo  
3 lake. There were two holes burned through its midsection. Other than  
the line of sight, it was unable to move.  
  
But it wasn't the Eva he was in that caught his attention but  
rather the two that stood facing each other in front of him. The first  
was Unit 01 with its back to the lake. It stood legs apart, a long,  
red, two pronged weapon held in front of it. The other Eva, one of the  
white mass produced ones, stood on a low hill several hundred meters  
away from Unit 01. It too held a strange two pronged weapon, but its'  
was blue. Touji guessed that this must bee the end of the third battle  
against Unit 01.  
  
As he watched the white Eva suddenly sprang into action. It leapt  
from the hill and charged right at Unit 01, the weapon pointed at the  
purple Eva's chest. Unit 01 waited until the other was getting very  
close, then launched its self straight up into the air. The white Eva  
responded in kind. They met in midair, their matching weapons locking.  
But the white Eva had more momentum and they were both carried back  
out over the water. With a tremendous splash they both sunk beneath  
the waves.  
  
The water continued to churn as the two Evas struggled beneath the  
surface, but the screen was starting to fade. Then, just before all  
the light disappeared, a young man appeared inside the entry-plug.  
Touji recoiled in shock at the pale, red-eyed face only a few inches  
from his own. Then the last of the light faded and once more he could  
hear the voices of those in the monitoring room over the intercom. A  
second later the lights in the plug switched back on. He was alone.  
  
"...disturbance. Oh wait. It's gone now."  
  
"What was that?" the Doctor was asking of someone else in that  
room.  
  
"It was some kind of abnormality in the sync graph." That was  
Maya's voice. "But it's gone now. Everything appears to be normal."  
  
"Ok." The doctor redirected her voice to the com. "Touji are you  
alright?"  
  
"Yeah." He said, sounding a little shaky. "I'm fine." Who had that  
boy been? What did he have to do with the Evas? Had he really seen any  
of it at all? But his confusion and curiosity were beginning to recede  
in the face of the strange feeling he was now receiving.  
  
He was aware of the Eva in almost the same way as he was aware of  
his own body. It was a fuzzy, disjointed awareness, and it was nothing  
like what he remembered of the last activation test he had been in.  
There was another sensation too. It reminded him of the way his  
artificial leg and arm felt. In his mind he raised an arm he hadn't  
had in three years. The Eva mimicked this; lifting its own hand up to  
the display in front of him. He flexed mental fingers, and a few  
seconds later the huge hand in front of him opened and closed.  
  
"It's like having my arm back." He whispered in awe.  
  
While he had been doing this the technicians in the monitoring  
room had been working furiously. Verifying the sync ratio, checking  
connections, generally making sure the Activation was complete.  
  
"Harmonics are all normal." Said one of the technicians.  
  
"Ok Touji." The doctor spoke across the com. "It seems it was a  
success. We'll eject the plug and you can go back to your quarters for  
the rest of the day."  
  
"ok." He said softly, and flexed the Eva's fingers one last time.  
  
Asuka leaned against the wall at the back of the monitoring room.  
There is no other way. She reminded herself. We have to use Unit 03,  
or I'll be stuck here forever.  
  
  
  
  
Commander Fuyutsuki stood alone in the dim command center. He  
gazed silently at the desk in front of him and the chair that he had  
never sat in. He still remembered the last day he saw the man who used  
to sit there.  
  
Images of his old friend flashed through his mind. Gendou; the  
battered youth who he had first retrieved from the police station. The  
man with the knowing smile as he sailed to Antarctica. The proud man  
entering the testing room, his son riding upon his shoulders. The cold  
eyed man sitting at his desk as he first outlined the Instrumentality  
project. And finally the last time he had ever seen him.  
  
It had been just after the third battle with Unit 01. They had  
both been looking down on the red Eva as its pieces were being moved  
into the repair cage.  
  
"If we had just one more Eva we could..."  
  
"No," Gendou cut him off. "The UN just banned the construction of  
any additional Evas. Also, SEELE shut down the other branches of  
NERV."  
  
"What? The old men... they can't do that? Can they?"  
  
"They can and they have." Gendou grunted what may have been a  
laugh. "After all, with what has happened their agenda can no longer  
be carried out. Then again, neither can ours."  
  
"Were we wrong?" Fuyutsuki said, more to himself than to his  
companion. "Was it truly not meant to be?"  
  
"Perhaps." Gendou said, taking of his glasses and rubbing at tired  
eyes. "Perhaps I was wrong to do as I have done." He replaced his  
glasses, turned and walked away. "Perhaps."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
Fuyutsuki was pulled out of his revive but Ritsuko's voice. He  
turned around to find her standing by the small door with a red  
clipboard in her hands. He remembered now that when Unit 01 had first  
broken free the Doctor had been nowhere to be found but after Gendou  
disappeared she had reappeared, acting just as she always did.  
Strange, he thought, that she should appear only when Gendou was no  
longer around.  
  
"Sir," she said again. "You requested to see me about Unit 03's  
reactivation."  
  
"Yes." He replied. "yes I did. How did it go?"  
  
"There was an small abnormality after the borderline connection  
but it only lasted 1.23 seconds. The pilot recorded no ill effects.  
Otherwise it went very well. The Eva has accepted the pilot and the  
preliminary sync ratio was recorded at 38%, which is very reasonable  
considering he's only been in an Eva once before."  
  
"Very good." He said, turning to look at the small panel of  
buttons on the desk in front of him. They were several small,  
unadorned, grey buttons surrounding a large red one with a plastic  
cover. Abruptly he reached forward to strike one of the grey ones.  
  
The large space in front of the screen was suddenly filled with a  
multitude of three-dimensional, different coloured, holographic lines.  
  
"Do you know what this is?" Fuyutsuki asked her.  
  
"It's a schematic of the Geo-Front. But why..." he cut her off by  
leaning forward and striking another key. The closest several layers  
of the image pealed away and then the whole image zoomed in on four  
red lined cylinders with red writing on their surfaces.  
  
"Oh my god," she gasped. "An N^2 cluster mine. The UN doesn't even  
allow the construction of... I mean."  
  
"It is only weapon strong enough to completely destroy the Geo-  
Front. It would burry this entire facility in so much dirt and rock it  
would take forty years just to dig up the rubble.  
  
"This button," he said stroking the plastic case of the large red  
one on his desk. "is the one that will detonate it. It's not the only  
way to do it of course, but any one who does use those mines has to be  
in this facility to do it. It is the last option, if all else fails."  
  
Fuyutsuki took a deep breath. "We will begin the training of the  
Fourth tomorrow." He said, changing the subject. "See that everything  
is ready. I will see you in the morning, Doctor." He finished,  
dismissing her, but instead of waiting for her to leave he exited the  
command chamber as soon as he had finished.  
  
For a few moments she looked after him with a confused expression.  
Shaking her head she dismissed the commander's odd behaviour.  
  
"Magi," she said out loud, "Unit 01's status please."  
  
The soft sibilant voice of the computer filled the room.  
"Behaviour Pattern 04. Location: quadrant N22. Sync ratio: 100%. All  
other data is blocked."  
  
The holographic image disappeared and the screen behind it flicked  
on. It showed an image from above the Geo Front. Rain poured from a  
dark night's sky. The staccato sound played across the speakers. At  
the center of the image was a massive dark shape sitting in the  
shallows of the Tokyo 3 lake. There was just enough light for her to  
see that Unit 01 sat with its legs curled against its chest, its arms  
wrapped around them and its jaw resting on its knees. It did not move  
at all as she watched it.  
  
"So," she said, "even Gods sleep."  
  
  
  
* * * 


	4. Chapter 3

Author: Stephen Mason Email: hagenclaw@icqmail.com  
  
Author's notes: Ok, so there has been a time gap between this episode  
and the last one. Don't blame me, blame standardised testing, blame  
malfunctioning screens, blame it on the rain. Also I want to apologise  
for the length of this one. Anyway, I apologise for the delay and here  
is the next part. Remember; any input is appreciated.  
  
See Prologue for Disclaimer. Now let's continue. :)  
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Dr Ritsuko Akagi sat alone in her dim office. Some where outside  
it was the evening and most of the Nerv staff had already signed out.  
The only sounds were the distant hum of the generators and the click  
and scratch of her own sporadic typing and writing.  
  
Intently she watched the screen in front of her. It had taken some  
time to hunt down the old security recordings and upload them to her  
mainframe. As she watched she would occasionally scribble something  
upon the red clipboard on her desk.  
  
Striking one key she switched the image to one of the corridors in  
the Nerv special hospital. For a moment nothing happened, then a dark  
haired boy of about 14 rushed out of one of the doors. Ritsuko watched  
as Shinji ran down the hallway into one of the bathrooms. Again she  
changed the image. Inside the bathroom Shinji washed one of his hands  
over and over again. Finally he stoped and lowered his head.  
  
"I'm so disgusting." He murmered. After a moment he left the  
bathroom and Ritsuko followed his progress through the base, switching  
from one recording to the next, until he reached the 3rd cage, where  
Unit 01 waited. Switching to the final recording she zoomed the image  
in on the gangway where Shinji had sat down. The youth had pulled his  
legs up against his chest and wrapped his arms around his knees, his  
sullen eyes looking over the top.  
  
He begun to mummer something and Ritsuko increased the volume.  
"...ill him. I'm horrible, I'm sneaky, I'm a coward. All I can do is  
hurt people. He shouldn't have died, but I killed him. I should have  
been the one to die. Help me, some one, but no one will help me. No  
one. Nowhere else to go." He looked up at the stony face of the Eva.  
Ritsuko intensified the volume. "mother." He whispered.  
  
Silently Ritsuko watched as the pilot changed into his plug suit,  
activated the manual hatch on the entry plug and entered the Eva. The  
image rippled slightly as she fast forwarded the recording through  
several hours. For a second after she stoped nothing happened, then  
the Eva's head rose up, and light filled the eye sockets.  
  
Striking another key the screen in front of Ritsuko went blank.  
She paused as another earth tremor shook the small porcelain cats on  
her desk and then wrote one final word on the paper attached to the  
clipboard: 'grief'.  
  
  
  
NEON GENSIS EVANGELION  
  
THE LAZARUS PROJECT  
PART 3: ONE NIGHT BENEATH THE EARTH  
  
  
  
Asuka and Hikari sat at one of the tables in the small restaurant.  
Their mouths hung open, their eyes were as wide as saucers. Shock and  
awe were written large across their expressions.  
  
"Wow." Breathed Asuka.  
  
"Yeah," replied Hikari, without looking away. "It never ceases to  
amaze me."  
  
"What is that? His third, fourth?"  
  
"Actually I think it's his fifth course."  
  
"I remember Shinji and Kensuke call him 'the stomach', but well,  
I've never seen anyone eat like that."  
  
Opposite the two girls Touji sat behind a building pile of white  
plates and bowls. He was half way through another bowl of Raman and  
was shovelling it into his mouth, using the chopsticks like spades.  
  
"So," said Hikari, tearing her self away from her boyfriend's  
amazing display of appetite. "How is the training going?"  
  
"Well enough," she replied. "he is doing alright, for a rookie."  
  
"Mrhph ahfrum." Touji objected, his mouth still full.  
  
"All right, all right." Asuka said waving down his objections. "A  
sync ratio of 43 in only three weeks" she said, parroting Ritsuko's  
voice. "We'll see how you fare in the combat trails next week."  
  
Touji slapped himself proudly on the chest with the hand holding  
the chopsticks, mumbled something through the food filling his cheeks  
and then returned to his meal.  
  
"So," Asuka said leaning close to Hikari, "When do you think he  
will be finished?"  
  
"It should only take him another three bowls."  
  
  
  
Asuka set the two cups of tea down on the low table before sitting  
down herself. "Thanks for coming back to my apartment with me." She  
said.  
  
"That's fine," Hikari replied, "Touji had a few phone calls to  
make, I'll catch up with him at our apartment. Anyway, you know I  
can't pass up a good cup of tea."  
  
Asuka nodded and took a sip. Hikari did likewise and cast her eyes  
around the room. It was the main room in Asuka's small apartment near  
the Nerv barracks. It wasn't exactly cluttered, but there really was  
not a bare surface save the floor. There was the large television, the  
stereo, extensive video and CD collections. Pen Pen's fridge was built  
into one wall, the penguin himself was lying beside the small table  
snoring softly. In one corner there was a small violin case and much  
larger cello case propped beside it. She recognised the violin case,  
but the cello?  
  
"I didn't know you played the cello as well Asuka." She said.  
  
Asuka paused, her tea cup halfway to her mouth. "It's not mine."  
She said softly. "It belonged... belongs to Shinji. Misato didn't have  
any close family, and, when she died... I... basically inherited  
everything in the old apartment, including Shinji's stuff. He wasn't  
that bad a player." She added, staring into the teacup.  
  
"Oh," replied Hikari, unsure of what to say next. "Do you miss  
them?"  
  
Asuka nodded without looking at her. "It can get very lonely down  
here. Until Touji was recalled I was the only one who could fight, the  
only soldier in a lonely war." She sighed then looked up and smiled at  
her friend. "Your letters have been one of the few things that have  
kept me going."  
  
"It's strange you know." Hikari said taking another sip. "You  
never hear anything about this place, what goes on here. During the  
angel attacks it was always on the news and in the papers, but it's  
been years since it was last mentioned. It really is a forgotten city.  
A forgotten war."  
  
"A forgotten war." Asuka said in agreement. "It was such an  
embarrassment for the UN, to have spent so much money on something  
they couldn't control, and then couldn't stop."  
  
Taking one last draught Hikari finished her tea. "Well, Touji will  
probably be done by now, and it is getting late." She stood up, giving  
the penguin a brief scratch on the back of the head in farewell.  
  
"Thankyou for coming," Asuka said. "not just tonight. It has been  
great having you around the last few weeks."  
  
"It's been great being here." She replied as she walked towards  
the door.  
  
"You know," Asuka said softly. Hikari paused at the door and  
looked back at her friend, but Asuka wasn't looking at her, she was  
staring across the room at the cello case propped in the corner. "You  
never really know what you've got, until it's gone."  
  
  
  
Touji lay in bed looking up at the ceiling. He was thinking about  
what Kensuke had said on the phone. About the things his friend had  
told him.  
  
About a week ago he had asked Kensuke to try to hack into the Nerv  
computers. He hadn't been able to get very far but he had found out  
several interesting things. Originally Touji had thought that the boy  
who's image he had seen in the entry plug must have been one of the  
pilots of the mass produced Evas, but it turned out that there were no  
records what so ever concerning the pilots of those Eva's.  
  
Kensuke did however find records of the Fifth child who resembled  
the boy form the plug, but again the records were incomplete,  
finishing not long before Unit 01 went mad. Touji didn't know what it  
all meant, but it certainly didn't feel right.  
  
"Both eyes open," He whispered. "Yeah right." He felt Hikari stir  
where she lay with her head upon his chest. He looked down at her. Her  
soft brown hair was undone and spilled across the sheets. She was  
watching him with her eyes half closed, her face seemed almost to glow  
as it always did, afterwards.  
  
"What is it?" she asked sleepily.  
  
"I was just thinking." He replied.  
  
"About what?"  
  
"Just stuff, the Eva..."  
  
"Touji," she said softly, raising her head off his chest and  
opening her eyes further. "The Nerv and the Evas have caused you so  
much pain, first your sister, then yourself. Why did you agree to  
pilot it for them?"  
  
Touji closed his eyes. That was a good question. He was under no  
real obligation to Nerv, his sister had been released from the special  
hospital years ago and his own treatment had been more than justified.  
  
Was he doing this to get back at Unit 01 specifically? That Eva  
had been to blame for his sister's injuries and his own 'impairments'.  
But no, until now that had never really crossed his mind. What then?  
Was it because Unit 01 was such a threat, possibly. But there was  
something else.  
  
"I think," he said at last, opening his eyes. "It is really  
because of Shinji. His experiences with the Eva were so much worse  
than even what happened to me, and yet he kept piloting. I owe it to  
him to try and save him. He saved the city, he saved us, so many  
times. And he was my friend."  
  
Hikari looked at him for a long moment before nodding and laying  
her head back upon his chest. After a while her breathing evened out  
and she had drifted off to sleep. Touji looked down at her, he loved  
her so much, she was so understanding. Over the past three years she  
had always been there for him, helping him through learning how to  
walk again, to use his fake limbs. Even before that day in the  
hospital.  
  
He thought back wistfully, he would always remember that day. He  
had been in his bed in the hospital in Tokyo 2. Hikari had come with  
lunch for him, as she did most days.  
  
"Kensuke sent you another tape." She had said, as she handed him  
the small black case and the lunch container she always brought.  
"I wonder what he would do without that camcorder," Touji said  
with a smile and set the tape on the dresser with several others. "So,  
how's school?" he asked, opening up the lunch container and surveying  
the mouth-watering contents.  
  
"Well, it may be a new building," she said, as she sat down on the  
side of the bed. "but it's basically the same, you know; maths,  
lecture on second impact, English, lecture on second impact, science,  
lecture on second impact." Touji laughed, and adjusted the tray so he  
could eat one handed.  
  
"Touji," she said, suddenly looking away from him. "there's  
something I've been wanting to tell you."  
  
"Umh?" he replied, his mouth already full.  
  
For a long moment she sat quietly starring at the far wall until  
finally; "Touji, I love you."  
  
He stoped eating, which was incredible under any circumstances.  
Shock bloomed large in his mind, and yet, he had almost expected this.  
Before he could react though she was saying something else.  
  
"And I need to know," she drew a shuddering breath. "how you feel  
about me."  
  
Touji moved the lunch tray away, and leaned forward, laying his  
hand in the small of her back. She stiffened visibly at the contact,  
but slowly relaxed as he talked. "Hikari," he said softly, "Ever since  
the accident, you've been there for me, you visit me more often than  
my own family. I've come to look forward to your visits, and I miss  
you when your not here." He wrapped his arm around her waist and drew  
her back against his chest. "Even mutilated as I am you care for me. I  
love you too." And he realised he truly meant it.  
  
Back in the room deep beneath Tokyo 3 the walls shook as a small  
tremor ran through the ground, but Touji didn't notice, he was already  
blissfully asleep.  
  
  
  
You Baka Shinji.  
  
It's raping my mind!  
I hate you, I hate everything!  
Leave me alone!  
You Baka Shinji.  
  
Am I so worthless that they could not do this for me?  
Unit 02 has a new pilot.  
I am worthless.  
You Baka Shinji.  
  
"Asuka you're needed." Asuka blinked open her eyes. She was lying  
in one of Nerv's medical beds and Misato was standing over her. She  
felt empty, except for a deep dull pain.  
  
"We need you to pilot Unit 02."  
  
"You have the fifth child. You don't need me."  
  
"The fifth is dead."  
  
Auska blinked, but that was all.  
  
"You still have 'Wonder girl' and the 'Hero' Shinji."  
  
"Rei tried to pilot Unit 02. She's in a coma now. And, and Shinji  
is..."  
  
Asuka sat up in the bed. There was a strange tightness in her  
chest. "What about Shinji?"  
  
The perspective changed. She was no longer lying in the bed, but  
was standing in the Command Center with Misato beside her. Asuka was  
dressed in her old, red plug-suit. She still had that empty look in  
her eyes, even as she looked up at the huge display. On it, images of  
the last two battles with Unit 01 were displayed. The current image  
was from when Rei had piloted Unit 02. Amidst the ruins of Tokyo Three  
Unit 01 crouched over the crumpled form of Unit 02. Its jaws wide, the  
purple Eva looked to be roaring as it held up a dismembered, red arm.  
  
"So, the second child has agreed to pilot Unit 02 once more."  
Commander Ikari was seated at his desk on the central column,  
Fuyutsuki standing a few steps behind him.  
  
"Yes, she has." Misato answered for her.  
  
"What about Unit 02?" Gendou asked.  
  
Maya, the technician, turned around in her seat to answer. "The  
repairs on Unit 02 have been completed, it's waiting in the third  
Cage."  
  
"Very well then."  
  
I'd be useless, Asuka thought, looking up at the carnage  
on-screen. "I worthless." She murmured out loud. "I'd only fail  
again." She turned listlessly and started for the door. Misato's hand  
came down upon her shoulder and whipped her around.  
  
"You're just gona walk away?" Misato demanded. The dark rings  
under her eyes spoke of worried mind that Asuka just pushed too far.  
"You're Asuka Langley Sohryu, damit. How many Angles have you faced?  
How many times did you refuse to give up? Even against the 15th you  
wouldn't retreat. Are you gona run away now?"  
  
An uncomfortable silence descended in the command room. Asuka  
stared up at Misato's tried, angry face. She was speechless.  
  
The perspective shifted again. Asuka was now sitting in the entry-  
plug of Unit 02. The Eva felt heavy around her, like a thick, old  
homemade sweeter, the kind her grandmother used to give her. Her sync  
ratio was only just high enough for Activation.  
  
Outside she could see the hulking shape of Unit 01 crouched on the  
hillside several hundred meters from her. It hunkered there, unmoving,  
like an oversized church gargoyle. An equal distance from the two Evas  
were a number of Nerv tanks and remote command trucks, for direction  
and support. Several sported Eva-sized grappling hooks.  
  
"Asuka?" Misato's voice crackled across the com. She was in one of  
the command trucks. "The tanks are secured, you can deploy your AT  
field when ready."  
  
"ok." She replied, she felt a little more like her old self now.  
"You baka Shinji, do I have to clean up after you again." She  
muttered, but her heart wasn't in it.  
  
The AT field unfolded, the only visual sign was a ripple in the  
air like heat haze. As soon as the ripple reached Unit 01 though, the  
purple Eva's head whipped up, the eye sockets lighting up. Asuka  
stepped Unit 02 forward, and hefted the Eva sized axe she had been  
equipped with.  
  
Unit 01 let out a long, low growl that increased in menace as  
Asuka advanced. Suddenly she reached what Unit 01 must have deemed the  
'too close' point. It leapt to its feet and charged. Asuka swore in  
German. How could it be so fast? Unit 01 slammed into Unit 02,  
grabbing the axe before Asuka had a chance to strike.  
  
Around and around the two Evas spun, their feet tearing at the  
ground and smashing through small buildings. Each tried to wrest the  
axe from the hands of the other. Asuka had the additional problems of  
Unit 01's snapping jaws, and her low sync ratio slowing down Unit 02's  
reaction time.  
  
"Asuka." Misato said across the com. "You have to keep the target  
still, we can't get a fix on it."  
  
Suddenly Unit 01 reversed its hold on the axe and thrust it back  
against Unit 02. Asuka struggled to compensate as Unit 01 drew back a  
huge fist to strike. "Now, Fire!" Misato yelled into the open com  
lines. Three massive grappling hooks shot through the air towards Unit  
01. They weren't quite fast enough. Unit 01 delivered its blow  
straight into the other Eva's face. The cockpit of Unit 02 lurched  
violently, tossing Asuka about like a rag doll. The visual display  
exploded into static as the Eva lost it balance in fell to the  
ground.  
  
With a groan Asuka lifted herself back into the seat. When the  
visual display flicked back into working order she had Unit 02  
laboriously get back on its feet. The axe was nowhere to be seen.  
Standing up she could once more see Unit 01.  
  
The massive purple Eva was wrestling with the three grappling  
hooks that had wrapped themselves around its limbs. The cables were  
supposed to have been made of some kind of titanium-plastic compound,  
but even as Asuka watched Unit 01 ripped through the first, freeing an  
arm. Some of the tanks began to fire on the Eva but they might as well  
have been cap guns. Gripping another cable Unit 01 pulled hard,  
tearing the tank free from its moorings and flinging it into the lake.  
Another hook was fired but Unit 01 batted it away with one hand.  
Bending over Unit 01 lifted a huge chunk of rubble and poised to throw  
it at the remaining tanks.  
  
It was then that Asuka noticed the small figures abandoning the  
tanks and command trucks, and one standing on the roof of the command  
truck, waving its arms. Asuka didn't need to be closer to recognise  
Misato, or to know she was shouting something at Unit 01. Over the  
damaged com Asuka could just make out her words. "Shinji, come back to  
us. Fight it, Shinji, Shinnjjjiiii!  
  
Unit 01 hurled the rock.  
  
"NNnnoooo!" Asuka screamed. Desperately she tried to intervene,  
but Unit 02 was too slow. The rubble struck, crushing everything in  
its path.  
  
"You God Dammed Monster!" Asuka snarled, her anger exploding. She  
drove Unit 02 into Unit 01 with incredible force, carrying them both  
to the ground. Drawing her prog knife she tried to drive it into Unit  
01's face. They grappled there, Unit 02 forcing the wiring knife down,  
Unit 01 only just holding the red Eva's arms back. Then, suddenly,  
there was a pressure in Asuka's middle, somehow Unit 01 had gotten its  
foot between the Evas. It kicked. Unit 02 was lifted up and away,  
thrown through the air like an old sock.  
  
Asuka screamed. She woke up. She was back in her room in the Nerv  
compound; her familiar things surrounded her. She felt drained, her  
emotions drawn thin by the dream, the memories. A small sob escaped  
when she lowered her head. And for what must have been the ten  
thousandth time, Asuka Langley Sohryu swore to destroy Eva Unit 01.  
  
  
* * * 


	5. Chapter 4

Author: Stephen Mason Email: sm04@uow.edu.au  
  
Author's note: Sorry this has taken so long, the next episode  
will be much sooner Remember any input is apreciated.  
  
See Prologue for Disclaimer. Now let's continue.   
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
The sun blazed down upon the shining steel and glass of Tokyo 3's  
skyscrapers, apartments and empty streets. Through them strode the  
giant, grim form of Unit 03. Held in its mismatched hands was the  
long barrel of a missile launcher. Deep with it Touji sat immersed in  
LCL, concentrating on making the Eva move as he desired. It was easier  
now than in the beginning, it almost felt like the Eva was a part of  
him, or he of it.  
Doctor Akagi's voice filtered across the com. "Asuka's reached the  
point position, Touji. When you've made it to the flank position, be  
prepared to fire on the target as soon as she attacks."  
"Ok." He said as he increased the Eva's pace. He knew the target  
was quiet for the moment but it could move at any time. As he  
approached the flank position, behind one of the blast shield  
buildings, a small red screen appeared on the Eva's display. Inside of  
it was Asuka's grinning face. "Ok rookie," she said, "Now I'll show  
you ho... Hey!" she was cut off as the Doctor's voice blared across  
the com again.  
"Touji the target is on the move and it's headed your way."  
"What?" Touji exclaimed, and swung the Eva's vision around to the  
city. There a small apartment suddenly exploded in a shower of white  
stone. Erupting from the debris was the massive, dark green form of  
the Third Angel. A light flashed inside the empty sockets of its small  
white face. Touji swore and spurred the Eva the rest of the distance  
to the blast shield. Just in time too, for as he pressed the Eva's  
back up against the barrier he watched as a huge column of energy  
erupted where he had just been standing.  
When the light faded Touji tensed the Eva's muscles and swung out  
from behind the barrier. The Angel was advancing with long, purposeful  
strides, this time he didn't give it the chance to attack first. He  
fired the first missile straight into the creature's chest, making it  
stagger and surrounding it in smoke. He followed this with the second,  
the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and then... click, click. He was out  
of ammunition.  
He scrutinised the cloud created by the missile detonations. That  
much fire power should have been enough to take it out. He realised  
how wrong he was when the Angel staggered out of the smoke, its chest  
and face, blacked and scared, but intact.  
"Asuka," he said into the com, "where the hell are you?"  
"Right here rookie!"  
It was then that he noticed the blood red Eva charging down one of  
the side streets, a huge axe griped in its hands. He wasn't the only  
one to notice however, the Angel had stoped and turned to face its new  
assailant. There was a flash and a wall of burning energy swept down  
the side street.  
Touji seized the opportunity, discarding the missile launcher he  
drew Unit 03's progression knife, and charged. The Angel, distracted  
by its attack on Unit 02, was too slow to react and he was able to  
tackle it before it could fire its beam attack. Wrapping Unit 03's arm  
around the Angel he drove the knife into its white face and began to  
drag down. However the Angel was holding the Eva's arm and midsection  
in its own hands and the blades had begun to slam into his armour.  
Then Asuka's voice sliced across the com. "Eat This!" she yelled   
as she rose up behind the Angel, the axe high to strike. She must have  
dodged the blast. Swing the axe she buried it in the Angel's back  
where it sheared through whatever the Angel was made of to smash into  
the core from behind.  
With that Touji's display went blank except for several large  
white words: 'Nerve connections released, simulation 2.31 terminated.'  
Asuka's image appeared in the bottom corner of the now black  
screen. "What do ya think of that, pretty good huh?"  
"Yeah, well, you have been doing this for the last four years." He  
replied.  
Doctor Akagi's voice filtered over the com. "Asuka? Are you still  
taking the day off tomorrow?"  
"I've built up a lot of leave being on level 3 alert all the time.  
It's about time I used some."  
"Ok, but we still got a few hours of today left you two, we'll  
try another simulation, and this time, I'm not telling you what your  
up against."  
  
  
  
NEON GENSIS EVANGELION  
  
THE LAZARUS PROJECT  
PART 4: GRAVESIDE  
  
  
  
Commander Fuyutsuki stood in a small circle of light at the center  
of a dark holographic chamber. Encircling him were the 12 black  
monoliths of SEELE. It is obvious that they have already been talking  
for some time.  
SEELE 01: "So the Lazarus project is proceeding well?"  
"Yes," replied Fuyutsuki, "If anything we are ahead of schedule."  
SEELE 04: "What of Unit 03, have there been any problems with the  
synthesis?"  
"No, Unit 03 is preforming very well."  
SEELE 01: "Very well. That will be all 'Dr' Fuyutsuki."  
With a hollow click the spotlight turned off and the commander  
disappeared from the chamber. For a long moment the monoliths gazed  
eyelessly at each other. At last one of them spoke.  
SEELE 11: "Once more we find ourselves drawing towards success."  
SEELE 08: "It depends, of course, on the ability of the remaining  
pilots and their Evas to preform their tasks."  
SEELE 09: "And even if they do preform, something arose to hinder us  
last time, we would be fools to believe there would not be something  
this time."  
SEELE 04: "Could it be Fuyutsuki?"  
SEELE 07: "He does not fully agree with our plans."  
SEELE 02: "He will continue to do as we instruct. He has no other  
option."  
SEELE 06: "Can Unit 02 be used instead of Unit 01?"  
SEELE 03: "Unit 02 possesses an incomplete soul, just as Unit 01 did."  
SEELE 04: "The scrolls do allow for it, they even allow for this three  
years delay."  
SEELE 01: "Then it will be as it was written, Instrumentality will be  
completed. The future will be ours. That will be all Gentleman."  
With the same hollow click the monoliths disappeared, leaving the  
chamber to brood in its own infinite darkness.  
  
  
  
"Yeah, it's like so weird. Imagine, the fifth turning out to be an  
angel." Kenskue said pushing his tinted glasses back up his nose.  
Touji was staring down at the screen of the public Vid phone from  
which his long time friend looked back. For reasons Touji couldn't  
fathom his friend had grown his hair long and started wearing tinted  
glasses. It probably had something to do with him going to university.  
"What else could you find out?" Touji asked into the receiver. His  
friend had assured him that this phone was on a different grid to the  
rest of the ones near Nerv HQ, and wouldn't be monitored.  
"Well the 5th, I mean the 17th Angel was defeated in terminal  
Dogma by Unit 01. I also did a bit more digging into the pilots for  
the Mass Produced Eva Series. Apparently there were none, they used  
some kind of 'dummy' plug. What is really weird is that one of the  
encrypted files is KN2150, the same one I keep finding with the Fifth  
child and seventeenth Angle folders."  
"What could you find out about Shinji?"  
"Not a dam thing. All files pertaining to Unit 01, the Third Child  
and the days after the defeat of the Seventeenth have been moved into  
a secure section of Balthazar. I don't think even I can hack into  
there."  
"So that's it?"  
"Yeah, I'll keep looking but I don't know how much more I'll be  
able to find."  
"Ok." Touji said with a sigh, "See ya, and thanks again."  
"No problem, Bye." Kenskue said and the small screen flicked off.  
Hanging up the receiver Touji began to make his way back to the bench  
where Hikari was sitting.   
It had seemed so simple when Asuka had stepped out of the entry  
plug on his first day here. Pilot the Eva, help stop Unit 01, do what  
needed to be done. Now he had questions without answers, and every  
time it looked like he was getting close, there were only more  
questions.  
Worse, he had begun to have strange dreams. Always the same one,  
he would be on one of the old Tokyo 3 train carriages, and further  
down had been Shinji and the Fifth child. Shinji had been sitting down  
with his eyes squeezed shut and his hands clutching at his head. The  
fifth had been standing over him and they had been talking, though  
Touji couldn't hear them, just see their lips move. At no stage of the  
dream did either of them take any notice of Touji himself.  
Touji shook himself out of his strange thoughts and sat down next  
to Hikari. They were up near a cliff edge away back in one of the  
corners of the cavern beneath the Geo-Front. Beside them was a small  
road and the Nerv jeep they had requisitioned. In front was the cliff  
edge with its bent railing and the old telephone booth. Behind them  
was what had once been one of the cultivated parklands but had long  
since become no more than an overgrown tangle.  
"So what did the second stodge have to say?" Hikari asked with a  
smile.  
"Not much," he replied shaking his head. "Nothing that will be of  
any help."  
"This is really starting to get to you isn't it?"  
He sighed and nodded. "And I think I'm running out of time. Doctor  
Akagi stepped up my training program today, they want me combat ready  
in less than two weeks."  
She put her arm around him and lent her head on his shoulder.  
"Your sure about this? I love you too much to lose you down here."  
"You know my reasons. I'm sure." He replied softly, putting his  
real arm around her. For several long moments they sat like that, arms  
around each other, sharing each other's warmth. The view from the  
cliff was spectacular, they could see most of the cavern floor. The  
barren, brown earth with the huge craters, the large discoloured lake,  
and the numerous automated defence towers.  
After a moment Hikari spoke, her eyes fixed upon the landscape  
before them. "Before we came here, I mean I never knew... the  
destruction. It's so desolate, so empty. I don't know how Asuka could  
stand it, living down here for all these years. It's like a tomb."  
"That's a bit morbid." Touji said, realising how depressing their  
conversation had been. "Come on, it's getting late and we should be  
getting back." He gave her a wicked smile as they stood up "Besides I  
have a much better view from the bedroom."  
Touji spoke again as they were getting into the jeep. "Asuka's  
having a day off tomorrow."  
"It will be good for her to have a break." Hakari replied doing up  
her seat belt.  
Touji nodded in agreement. "So what are you two going to do  
tomorrow?"  
"I'm, ah, not seeing her until the afternoon."  
"Oh, I just assumed... what is she doing then?"  
"She said there was someone she needed to visit."  
  
  
  
The bulky Nerv transport settled down on the small patch of tarmac  
beside the vast field. It wasn't a field in the normal sense; nothing  
grew here. It was paved in a vast, continuous sheet of white concrete,  
broken only by the rank upon rank of slender, severe, black  
headstones. Established after second impact by the government, these  
huge necropoli were now used for military funerals and for people who  
had little time to spend on their dead.  
As the whirring engines quietened a short ramp extended from below  
a closed hatch. When it reached the ground the hatch hissed opened  
revealing Asuka and a Nerv solider. The officer saluted and Asuka  
saluted back. It may be her day off but protocol still applied.  
Walking down the ramp she entered the field. She was wearing her  
cream uniform, she didn't own as many dresses as she once did. Anyway,  
it felt more formal, this way. Lieutenant to Major.  
At last she entered the section for Nerv personnel. It was not  
large, but nor were the headstones sparse as she walked she paused  
briefly at the headstone of Yui Ikari, to each side of it were empty   
plots, dug, but never filled. Tearing her eyes away from the empty  
holes she kept walking.  
Asuka had a strange sensation, like she knew this place much  
better than her one visit may account for. In her childhood she had  
been to quite a few graveyards, but they had been different to this  
one, much older, with a variety of headstones, from huge gothic ones,  
to small white crosses. And yet, and yet they somehow felt the same.  
Asuka shook her head. No one should find graveyards so familiar.  
At last she reached her destination. The headstone was simple and  
black, with narrow white writing, just like all the rest except in  
what was written: 'Major Misato Kartsurgi. 1992 - 2015. Decorated  
officer of Nerv. She died in the service of the protection of  
humanity.'  
Asuka stared down at the black surface, no longer seeing the  
words. She tried to remember all the things she could about Misato:  
The dishevelled woman who had stumbled into the kitchen every morning.  
The skilled tactician and Major. The smiling face with the beer in  
hand. The one who knew all about her but still treated like any other  
girl. Asuka missed that most of all, having someone who knew and  
didn't pity, just accepted.  
Asuka blinked, and blinked again. Reaching a hand up she touched  
her own cheek. Taking her hand away she looked at the water on her  
fingers. She had been crying, she realised. She hadn't thought that  
she had any tears left.  
The last three years had been terrible. All the time alone below  
the Geo-Front. The only teenager, the only pilot. The only time she  
even saw the sunlight was during the brief, and often disastrous,  
forays against Eva Unit 01. One part of her had spent the last three  
years waiting in dread for the day when she just wasn't good enough,  
when she wouldn't be able to hold Unit 01 back. The day when it would  
crush Unit 02 and tear it's way into terminal Dogma and... with a  
shuddering breath Asuka drew her mind away form those thoughts. She  
would beat Unit 01, she had to.  
Asuka had meant to say something, she didn't know what, and now  
she couldn't think of anything. Kneeling down she placed the small  
bunch of flowers and the can of beer beside the headstone. It was an  
empty sentiment she knew, but she felt a little better for making it.  
At last she turned her back upon the dead and waked back to the  
transport. Without a backward glance she saluted the soldier and took  
her seat near the window. The hum of the engines intensified and with  
a lurch the transport lifted off.  
Asuka gazed out the window as the transport made its way back to  
the landing platform near the train station. It passed over the ruins  
of Tokyo 3. Far below she could see the huge form of Unit 01 walking  
about near the lake. In an almost child like fashion it was picking up  
chunks of rubble and piling them on top of each other. After a few  
moments a small quake made the lake waters ripple and toppled the  
towers of rubble. Asuka turned away from the window and permitted  
herself a small shudder. Even this high up, even through the whir of  
the transport's engines, she could still faintly hear the Eva's  
bestial and yet almost human, roar.  
  
  
  
With a hollow booming sound Touji again slammed his foot into the  
armoured door. He glared at the door's solid surface, which hadn't  
even had the decency to dent satisfactorily. Another dead end, and it  
was getting late. Tired and frustrated Touji began to make his way  
back to the surface.  
He had been so stupid; thinking he could just sneak down into the  
secure areas of Nerv Headquarters and find the answers he was looking  
for. Oh it had seemed a good idea, when he had gotten out of the  
showers after a day's training and no one was around. But of course he  
hadn't considered the security cameras, armoured doors and coded  
locks. The only reason he had gotten this far was because every second  
camera had stopped working a long time ago. Thankfully Nerv had better  
things to spend its reduced budget on than camera maintenance.  
The path Touji wove back up through the levels of Headquarters was  
convoluted, since he had to avoid the working camera and the areas to  
dark for him to see his own way. Sometimes he even had to go up a few  
levels and then down again. While in one of the higher levels he  
paused near the intersection of two hallways. He thought he had heard  
something. He strained his ears; yes, there it was again. It sounded  
like two people talking. Following the noise he made his way to the  
slightly open door from which a bright light shone. Listening  
carefully he could make out what the two people were saying, the first  
voice he recognised as Dr Akagi's.  
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
"...cross-referenced all the incidents when Unit 01 went berserk.  
The battle's with the Third, 12th 14th Angel as well as when the dummy  
plug was used. I also tracked the pilot's movements during the days  
leading up to the accident. I believe I may know why Unit 01 went  
rouge last time." At this statement Touji pressed hid ear closer to  
the gap at the edge of the door.  
"In the first instance," she continued, "during the battle with  
the third Angel, the pilot received a huge level of feedback pain from  
the Eva, sending his mind into shock. Against the twelfth the pilot  
had drifted into an unconscious state. Against the fourteenth his mind  
was again under a huge amount of stress, though the data from that  
incident was somewhat difficult to analyse. Also with the initial  
dummy plug the Eva was receiving a signal but not a dominant mind  
pattern and again we witnessed a berserk reaction."  
"So what are you trying to say?" Asked the Commander in his steely  
tones.  
"According to my theory, the trigger for the berserker reaction  
lies in the withdrawal of the pilot's mind. The Eva only requires a  
signal to activate, and if that signal is not strong but still present  
such as with the dummy plug or an unconscious pilot, the Eva's own  
mind takes over."  
"So what happened the last time?"  
"The third child, after having to destroy the seventeenth Angel,  
was grieving and upset. In the absence of anyone human to turn to he  
sought comfort inside the Eva. Once inside his mind continued to  
withdraw from the world until he triggered the rouge reaction. Of  
course it is explained in full inside the folder."  
Touji had begun to creep away, he had heard enough and besides  
it was very dangerous sitting just out side the door. As he snuck  
away he thought he heard their muffled voices accompanied by the soft  
whir of a paper shredder. He reflected that this little foray of his  
had not been entirely useless. Now he had one more piece of the puzzle  
and it was helping him to understand some of the other pieces.  
He realised now that Shinji, almost alone after the city had been  
evacuated, must have befriended the fifth child, only to have him turn  
out to be an Angel, one of the enemy. Once more Touji could see the  
dream in his mind: his friend's lips moving without sound, but now he  
could read his lips, match words to the movements. "Go away, your not  
real, your dead, I should know, I killed you."  
  
  
  
  
  
Comming soon: The Next, and final, Eposide of THE LAZRUS PROJECT:  
'The Hour Of The Beast'  
  



	6. Chapter 5

Author: Stephen Mason Email: hagenclaw@icqmail.com  
  
See Prologue for Disclaimer. Now let's continue.   
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
Eva Unit 01 swam through the waters of the lake that had once been  
Tokyo 3. It moved easily, with smooth sweeps of its giant arms. As it  
descended, a huge forest of seaweed rose up to meet it. Small silvery  
fish darted in and out of the towering weeds. When the Evangelion  
reached the bottom it stood up to it's full height, only just toping  
the weeds. It walked forward and eventually stepped into a clearing.  
  
In front of it lay one of the mass produced Eva Series, face down  
in the mud, both the Lance of Longinus and its replica sticking from  
its back. One of the plates on the back had been ripped off, exposing  
the slot for the entry plug. Unit one stepped past the corpse and  
kneeled down. There, in a bed of seaweed lay a shattered dummy plug.  
With a care that belied its size, Unit 01 lifted the plug and held it  
up to its eyes. After a long moment it replaced the plug on its bed of  
weed. The Eva lowered its head and its shoulders sagged.  
  
Up on the surface, the water rippled as another tremor ran through  
the earth.  
  
  
NEON GENSIS EVANGELION  
  
THE LAZARUS PROJECT  
. PART 5: THE HOUR OF THE BEAST  
  
  
"Warning! Warning! Behaviour Pattern 23. All Personnel to their  
posts. Repeat; Behaviour Pattern 23."  
  
All through Nerv HQ red lights flashed and the staff dashed around  
like maddened ants. In the different changing rooms Asuka and Touji  
threw on their plug suits before running towards the Eva's Cages. Far  
above them Fuyutsuki strode into the huge Command Center. The  
technicians and other personnel were rushing to their stations,  
hauling on headphones and practically jumping into their seats. Up on  
the huge screen behind the holo-display was an image of Unit 01. The  
Eva drove its hands into the ground, pulling up sections of old pipe,  
cable and masses of concrete. It had already dug some considerable  
distance.  
  
Finally Ritsuko dashed into the room, her lab coat flapping.  
"Where are the pilots?" she demanded.  
  
"Already in the entry plugs." Said Maya.  
  
"Good," Ritsuko said coming to a halt behind the technicians.  
  
"Open the coms, bring Auto Defence Towers 4 through to 13 online."  
Commanded Fuyutsuki. "How far down is Unit 01?"  
  
"More than half way," said Hyunga, "its only got 6 armoured  
sections left to penetrate."  
  
Up on the screen the purple Eva had uncovered the dull metal of an  
armoured plate. It began to drive its fists against it like a pile  
driver. Even with the sound muted Fuyutsuki swore he could hear its  
guttural roar.  
  
"Launch paths 22 and 27," said Ritsuko. "Asuka, Touji prepare for  
deployment with in the Geo-Front."   
  
"No." Said Fuyutsuki, "Send Unit 02 up the 43rd shaft. It is time  
we put the final phase of the Lazarus project into operation."  
  
"But Sir." Said Ritsuko, spinning around in shock. "The pilot of  
Unit 03 has never been in combat before, and he's only been training  
for three months."  
  
"I am well aware of that Professor. I have also seen his results  
from that training, he will be sufficient for the task of delaying  
Unit 01. Asuka," he said into the com, effectively ending the argument  
with Ritsuko. "I trust you know what to do?"  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
  
  
Touji braced himself inside the Plug. The entire thing lurched  
badly as the Eva was shot up the vertical tunnel. He sat tight in the  
seat, thoughts racing through his head as fast as the Eva itself was  
moving. He knew Nerv was keeping secrets, about what happened to  
Shinji, about the Eva Series and the seventeenth Angel. Even about  
what they had done to resurrect Unit 03. He had managed to uncover  
some of it, especially about Shinji but there were still so many  
questions.  
  
So many questions. He thought to himself as the Eva emerged from  
the shaft and he was greeted by the decimated landscape beneath the  
Geo-Front. And no time left to ask them.  
  
With a loud clunk the restraints were released and the Eva  
slouched forward. As he advanced towards the weapons rack that had  
risen out of the ground he could see where debris were already  
beginning to fall from the ceiling. Even as he retrieved the Positron  
Cannon and fitted it to Unit 03's shoulder he heard Maya's voice over  
the com. "The target has made it to the final armoured section."  
  
The com went silent as both Touji and the staff in the command  
center quietly waited for Unit 01. They could all hear the regular  
crashes that reverberated throughout the Geo-Front as the Eva attacked  
the last barrier. Then it happened. The distended plate came crashing  
down from ceiling to splash into the discoloured lake. The purple Eva  
followed it, falling rapidly at first then seeming to slow until it  
finally reached the water and its feet entered with barely a ripple.  
  
The Eva stepped out of the shallows and Touji levelled the cannon  
at it. "Unfold you AT field." Said Fuyutsuki over the com. "Remember  
we want to delay the Target as long as possible, so don't fire until  
you receive the command."  
  
"Yes Sir." He had been thoroughly briefed on the extraordinary  
abilities displayed by Unit 01's AT field and had run many simulations  
but he was not certain he could hold the rouge Eva back for the seven  
minutes and 53 seconds that had been estimated for the retrieval of  
the Lance. In the rack beside him he had enough weapons to supply and  
army but would it be enough? It would have to do; there was no more  
time for preparations.  
  
Abruptly Unit 01 stopped in its advance. Its head swung around,  
its glowing eyes directed up at the distant ceiling.  
  
Back in the command room Ritsuko turned to Maya. "What's up  
there?" she asked, her voice taught from the stress.  
  
"Not much, power conduits, armoured layers... and the 43rd launch  
shaft." Back outside the purple Eva had begun to turn around.  
  
"ADTs four through to fifteen fire at will." Fuyutsuki shouted.  
"Touji, it knows where Unit 02 is going, We have to keep it down  
here."  
  
"Right." Taking aim at Unit 01's back. Even as he did so the  
landscape erupted with rocket and chain gun fire. Volley after volley  
of missiles swooped in on the rouge Eva, detonating in plumes of light  
and smoke. Soon the Eva was obscured by smoke. "Forgive me Shinji."  
Touji whispered and fired two huge balls of energy from the cannon  
deep into the growing cloud.  
  
Suddenly the cloud blossomed outwards, revealing a calm sphere of  
air, the center of which was Unit 01. The Eva ducked smoothly,  
catching one of the missiles in mid flight. Just as smoothly it flung  
the missile back into one of the Defence towers, causing it, and the  
two beside it, to explode. Touji fired another ball of burning energy  
which unit 01 batted away with one hand, flinging it on to another  
Defence tower.  
  
With a roar Unit 01 plunged its hand into the ground, tearing up a  
huge piece of rubble. Spinning around it hurled it like a discus. It  
smashed into another defence tower, detonating the unfired rockets and  
causing an explosion that took out the nearby towers. Touji increased  
the cannon fire, ball after ball of blue energy shotting towards the  
Eva, sometimes getting past Unit 01's guard to spill over the its  
chest.  
  
Soon the land around the two Eva's was carpeted in fire and  
burning rubble, the automated defences were decimated, and the cannon  
on Unit 03's shoulder was smoking from where the power channels had  
melted and fused. In the heart of the destruction Unit 01 stood, smoke  
pouring off blackened armour and blood dripping from a shattered  
forearm. On the ground at its feet the dismembered hand lay, cooked  
and smouldering. Touji discarded the now useless cannon. Well, he  
thought, at least it could be hurt.  
  
With a low rumbling growl Unit 01 lifted the stump of its hand  
into the air. On the end of it the flesh had begun to bubble and  
writhe. Abruptly it extended outwards and reshaped itself into a hand.  
Unit 01 flexed its new fingers a few times and then turned its  
attention on Touji and Unit 03.  
  
"Holy shit." Touji muttered as he closed his Eva's hand on the  
missile launcher. With an echoing roar Unit 01 charged towards the  
other Eva. Touji let lose with the missiles, one after the other  
exploding around Unit 01, without seeming to slow it. At the end of  
the clip he flung it aside and snatched an Axe from the weapon's rack.  
He did so just in time to blunt Unit 01's first assault. He almost  
couldn't believe the speed of the purple Eva.  
  
Again and again it lashed out with its fists, Touji only just  
managing to catch them with the half of the axe. Then he saw an  
opening and brought head of the axe around in a brutal arc. But the  
rouge Eva had the reflexes of a cat, and Touji managed only to slash  
Unit 01 chest rather than cleave through the torso as he had intended.  
  
Caught off balance Unit 03 stumbled forward. Desperately  
stabilizing the Eva Touji raised the head and his visual display.  
Aghast he watched as Unit 01 swung around, its foot sailing up and  
smashing into the patchwork Eva's side. The screen filled with static  
and the cockpit rocked like a mad thing, Touji clutching desperately  
at the seat.  
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
The rocking stopped and the display switched back on, showing  
Touji a face full of dirt. Gritting his teeth against the bruising in  
his side he drove his Eva to its feet. Unit 03 had been flung a fair  
distance and the purple Eva had yet to pursue. It stood, hunched over,  
near the weapons rack. From there it glared balefully at Touji with  
its glowing eyes.  
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
In one corner of the display a small red timer had begun to count  
down his reserve power. The umbilical cord must have been  
disconnected. He'd also lost the Eva sized axe during the fall.  
"Asuka," he whispered as the drew Unit 03' progression knife, "Hurry  
up."  
  
  
  
The murky waters parted around Unit 02's torso as Asuka waded it  
into the crater lake. The sides of the crater were remarkable steep  
and it only took two more steps for her Eva's face to become  
submerged. Once underwater Asuka pushed off from the sides of the  
crater and, with heavy strokes of Unit 02's arms, drifted out towards  
the center of the lake.  
  
The Eva sank quickly, the darkness rushing up to engulf Asuka's  
display. "Activating flood lights." She said into the com. With a  
hollow clunk the darkness was cloven apart but the twin lights that  
had been mounted on the Eva's shoulders. They illuminated the giant  
weeds through which Unit 02 was now drifting, and occasional small  
schools of fish.  
  
It was strange. She had been waiting for this day for the past two  
and a half years, and now it was here she felt completely calm. The  
red Eva reached the lakebed with a dull thump. "I'm at the bottom."  
She said into the com. "Where is it? There are weeds all over the  
place."  
  
"The probes located the Lance about 250 meters north, north west."  
Replied Ritsuko's muffled voice from the com.  
  
"Ok." Asuka said, orientating her self with the cockpit's compass.  
Ploughing through the weeds she quickly reached the clearing. There  
the body of Unit 13 greeted her. Lying on the bottom, its disturbingly  
clown-like face buried in the mud. Its limbs were twisted at odd  
angles and several of the armoured plates had been ripped off,  
including the one above the entry plug. And there, impaling the white  
Eva, their hafts rising through the water, were the red Lance of  
Longinious and its grey-blue replica.  
  
"Asuka?" Asked Ritsuko's disembodied voice, "Is it there?"  
  
"Yeah." Asuka replied as she walked the Eva forward. Reaching out  
Unit 02's hand she wrapped it around the haft of the red lance. The  
Eva's hand twitched once and a tickle of static electricity ran up  
Asuka's own arm in sympathy. Jerking it upwards she removed the  
Lance's prongs from the white Eva's back. A soft haze of blood began  
to gather in the water about the twin wounds.  
  
"Got it." She said into the com.  
  
  
  
In the dark holographic chamber the monoliths of SEELE appeared.  
  
SEELE 06: "Unit 02 has acquired the Lance."  
SEELE 03: "At last it has been returned to us."  
SEELE 09: "And Unit 03 continues to delay Unit 01."  
SEELE 02: "We are three years behind schedule but at last the Promised  
Time really is at hand."  
SEELE 01: "Contact Fuyutsuki. Tell him what must be done."  
  
  
  
Unit 03 crashed backwards, carving up the ground as it fell. It  
came to rest with its head propped up against a plie of rubble. Unit  
01 towered above it, the prog knife sticking from its shoulder. The  
battered Unit 03 tried to lift itself to its feet but faltered and  
slipped back to the ground.  
  
Deep with in Unit 03's entry plug Touji began to swear. The three  
zeros on the timer flashed mockingly at him, as he rammed his hands  
into the controls again and again. "God damit, I need more time.  
There's gota be some juice left in this dam thing."  
  
Above him the purple Eva had turned away, its gaze directed at the  
command center and it's path to Terminal Dogma. "No!" Touji yelled,  
giving into his frustration. "It can't happen this way, Shinji.  
Shinji! I won't give up. God damit I'm not going to give up!"  
  
He stopped suddenly as a sound filled the plug. Like the single  
beat of a giant heart. And for one horrible moment Touji found himself  
looking straight into a pair of shining, red eyes.  
  
Outside Unit 03's eyes lit up and its jaw sprang open. With a low  
growl it lurched up, its damaged limbs straining. The white hand shot  
out and sunk its armoured fingers into Unit 01's back. Hauling itself  
up it drew the black hand back, the fingers curled into a fist.  
  
Unit 01 looked back over its shoulder and it was then that the  
patchwork Eva struck. Its hand smashed into the side of Unit 01's  
face, whipping the Eva around and sending it stumbling. The purple Eva  
recovered quickly however and adjusted itself to face the new  
berserker. Unit 01's face was a death mask, blood ran from between the  
shattered armour and leaked out of the glowing eye.  
  
Simultaneously the two Evas roared at each other and charged. But  
Unit 01 was still the faster and had suffered the least damage. In  
three rapid blows it had driven the patchwork Eva to its knees. The  
purple Eva finished the battle with a brutal kick to Unit 03's chest.  
  
Deep within the Eva Touji threw his arms across his face as the  
crash shook the plug. After a moment of silence he took them away, the  
cockpit was now dark and huge cracks ran through the blank display  
screen, but he was still alive. Settling back in his seat Touji closed  
his eyes. "It's up to you now Asuka." He whispered.  
  
  
  
Commander Fuyutsuki hung up the red phone's receiver and stared up  
at the holographic display. "Sir." Said Maya from the balcony below.  
"Unit 03's AT field has ceased. And its core's power cells are no  
longer functioning. Unit 01 is approaching the command center."  
  
"Where's Asuka?" He asked.  
  
"Coming down the 38th shaft. She has the lance"  
  
"If we sent her straight to Terminal Dogma she would reach it  
before Unit 01, correct?"  
  
"Yes sir. Unit 01 would have several armoured layers to get  
through first where as Unit 02 could be sent directly."  
  
Fuyutsuki seem to ponder something for several long seconds. "No."  
he said at last. "Ready her for deployment with the Geo-Front. Asuka?"  
he asked into the open com lines. "Are you ready."  
  
"I've been ready for the last three years." She replied.  
  
  
  
The blood red form of Unit 02 emerged from the ceiling of the Geo-  
Front riding on a long cable of steel wire. In one hand it clutched  
the two pronged lance, as red as its own body. They both glistened  
from the lake water that still clung to them. Within the plug Asuka  
looked down on the scared landscape. She could see the crumpled, black  
and white body of Unit 03 and Unit 01 walking away from it.  
  
One hundred meters from the floor, Asuka let go of the cable and  
dropped the rest of the distance. She struck the ground with a solid  
boom, unfolding her AT field as she did so. The ripple in the air  
spread out around Unit 02, speeding across the devastated landscape.  
When it struck Unit 01 the purple Eva stiffened and spun around. With  
a deep reverberating growl it began to advance towards her.  
  
She watched it as it advanced, it appeared that Touji had done it  
some damage: The prog knife still stuck from its shoulder and the  
wound continued to leak blood. One side of its face was a mass of  
crumpled armour, the eye glowing balefully from the bloody mask. It  
was smattered in blood, its armour looking as much red as purple,  
though Asuka doubted much of it belonged to Unit 01. Its hands were  
drenched in blood as were its feet.  
  
About a hundred meters from Unit 02 Unit 01 stopped, just beyond  
the reach of the lance. It's wary of the Lance. Asuka thought to  
herself and grinned. The adrenalin had begun to pump and she tightened  
her grip on the controls. Unit 02 mimicked this, its fingers  
tightening around the haft of the lance. "Come on, you monster." She  
said softly, not taking her eyes from Unit 01, "What are you afraid  
of?"  
  
Slowly the two Evas circled one another, like boxers in the ring.  
Asuka was the first to move, lashing out with the pronged end of the  
Lance. Unit 01, dodged smoothly to one side, ducked under Unit 02's  
guard and slammed its fist into the red Eva's chest. Asuka and Unit  
02 stumbled, but she was able to regain the Eva's balance fast enough  
to block Unit 01's next attack with the length of the Lance.  
  
The two Evas parted, wary again of each other. It was then that  
Asuka noted where umbilical cord was lying; right next to Unit 01's  
feet. Unit 01 had also noticed this fact. Asuka swore in German and  
lunged forward with the Lance. She was to slow; Unit 01 rammed its  
foot down on the cord and twisted, ripping it apart.  
  
Asuka swore again as the red timer flicked on. She brought the  
lance around in a chopping motion, but Unit 01 caught the blades in  
the last moment. Asuka kept up the pressure, forcing the Lance down,  
Unit 01 strained to hold it back. Abruptly the purple Eva slid to one  
side and released its hold. Asuka compensated quickly and was rewarded  
as the blades slashed down Unit 01's arm, pealing off the armour.  
  
With a snarl of pain the rouge Eva drew back. Asuka pushed her  
advantage; lashing out with broad sweeps of the lance. Unit 01 dodged  
and weaved, just barely escaping each deadly slash. Then as Asuka  
reached the hight of one swing, the rouge Eva charged forward, body-  
slamming Unit 02. The red Eva stumbled backwards, losing its balance.  
As it fell the but of the Lance swung up and crashed into Unit 01's  
jaw, sending the purple Eva reeling.  
  
"You bastard!" Asuka snarled as she drove Unit 02 once more to its  
feet. One small part of her mind told her she was losing her temper,  
but she'd never listened to it before. Unit 01 had recovered from the  
last blow and charged at her again. The adrenalin was rushing through  
Asuka's veins now and she was ready for the attack. Unit 02 ducked the  
first swipe and blocked the second, then Asuka saw her opening.  
  
"You god dammed monster." She shouted, and unleashed a furry of  
attacks, driving Unit 01 on to the defensive.  
  
"I hate you." She grated as she swung the Lance and caught Unit  
One a glancing blow to the face.  
  
"You took Shinji." She cried as she drove the flat of the Lance's  
prongs against Unit One's shoulder, knocking it to one side.  
  
"You killed Misato!" She yelled. As it was getting up she brought  
the Lance edge-first on to the other shoulder. It sheared through  
armour and flesh before she pulled it out. Blood sprayed as the Eva  
roared its pain. Asuka drew back a final time.  
  
"You Stole My Family!" she screamed, her tears mingling with the  
LCL. Her thrust took Unit One in the midsection; both prongs of the  
Lance sliding through the Eva like hot knives through butter.  
  
Evangelion Unit 01's body began to shudder and twitch. However it  
still managed to reach forward and wrap it hands around the neck of  
Unit 02. Asuka's own throat constricted in sympathy but only for a  
moment as the flashing timer on her display indicated that Unit 02's  
reserve power had just run out.  
  
As Unit 02 lost power and Unit 01 stoped twitching, both Evas  
gently collapsed to their knees, their heads coming to rest on one  
another's shoulders.   
  
Maya's voice crackled over Asuka's intercom as the young pilot  
was regaining her breath. "Unit 01's power channels have been  
destroyed. The sync ratio is dropping; 98, 91, 83, 73, 61, 50.  
  
"Pilot life signs confirmed." It was all Asuka needed to hear.  
  
  
  
Back in the command room Hyuga spun around in his chair.  
"Commander, Asuka just ejected her entry plug."  
  
"It does not matter." Commander Fuyutsuki said. "Let her see what  
she can find."  
  
Ritsuko heaved a sigh of relief. "We won." was all she could say.  
  
Suddenly, Maya turned around, a look of panic on her face. "Unit  
One's core has begun to decay, when it collapses the S^2 organ will  
explode, the blast will be enough to take out this command center. We  
have to evacuate."  
  
"How long?" Asked the Commander in a taught voice.  
  
"Thirteen minutes."  
  
"Begin evacuation. In fact, evacuate the entire branch."  
  
"But sir?" said Ritsuko looking surprised.  
  
"Do it." He almost snarled.  
  
For one furious minute the staff worked at their consols ordering  
the exodus before they too left in a hurry. This left only Ritsuko to  
stare up at Fuyutsuki who still stood behind his desk.  
"Why? She asked. He looked away from her.  
  
"As soon as Asuka retrieved the Lance SEELE contacted me and  
ordered me to have Unit 02 take it to Lileah immediately. And to then  
bring the Evangelion and the Angel into direct contact. SEELE wants to  
complete Gendou's failed Instrumentality project. But even Gendou did  
not want what they intend. I don't want to go back to the shell." He  
took a deep breath. "Bringing an Eva, the Lance and Lilith together  
would have been the final stage. The old men will soon figure out that  
I've disobeyed them. Soon enough they will be here with half the  
world's military in tow. I don't intend to let them find any thing  
useful."  
  
On the panel in front of his commander Fuyutsuki flips up the  
hardened plastic case over the red button.  
  
"But we've won." Said Ritsuko. "In twelve minutes Unit 01's core  
will collapse and the S^2 organ will explode."  
  
"Units two and three may survive, and as long as any Evangelion  
remains there exists the possibility that third impact may be enacted.  
See that everyone is evacuated. In twelve minutes I will press this  
button."  
  
"But sir..."  
  
"Ritsuko, I am the only one left who remembers the construction of  
the first Evangelion. I will see this through to the end."  
  
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
Auska slammed her fist into Unit 01's manual ejection control. The  
battered purple panel blew off and the entry plug spun out into the  
eject position. Scrambling over Unit 01's armoured skin she hauled  
herself up to the plug's hatch. Gripping the manual release she could  
feel the heat searing through the skin of her plug suit. Gritting her  
teeth she hauled on the leavers. After a long pained moment the  
release gave, rust flakes leaping away from it.  
  
The hatch slid up with a hot hissing sound. Warm LCL flowed out  
and around Asuka's feet, overflowing it made the long drop to the  
ground. Thrusting her head into the plug she looked down. Shinji lay  
crumpled in a heap in the pilot's seat. His plug-suit had been  
partially dissolved by the long exposure to the LCL and was covered in  
holes. The limbs that poked through these holes where skeleton thin.  
His long wet hair lay in strips around his face and tangled in the  
short fuzzy stubble that had grown on his chin. As she watched, the  
thin chest beneath the battered plug-suit rose and fell.  
  
"Shinji." She whispered, in awe of finding him alive.  
  
He opened burley eyes to look up at the female silhouette framed  
by the hatch. "Misato?" he asked in a grogy voice.  
  
"No, Shinji." Asuka said as she reached in and pulled him out. He  
was easily light enough for her to lift, which only scared her. "It's  
me, Asuka."  
  
"Asuka." He said, sounding confused. "Asuka, I'm sorry, but I  
forgot to make the lunches last night."  
  
"Oh Shinji." Asuka sobbed as she clutched him tight. "You Baka."  
She said, but she was smiling as she held him.  
  
"I'm sorry." He said again, then blinked a few times, closed his  
eyes and began to snore softly.  
  
"Asuka!" Touji's voice echoed across the bloodied plates of  
armour. Looking down Asuka could see the other pilot climbing up one  
of the inbuilt ladders on Unit 02. "Asuka, we've got to..." then he  
got high enough to see what she held in her arms. "Is he alive?"  
Touji yelled.  
  
"Yes." Asuka yelled back, the tears now flowing freely down her  
face.  
"Asuka, I'm coming up there." He shouted back. "We have to get him  
down quickly, Unit 01 is going to explode."  
  
With painstaking care they manoeuvred Shinji's unconscious form  
across the slumped Evas' bodies. "How are we going to get out of  
here?" Asuka asked as they clambered down.  
  
"They're sending a jeep out to pick us up," Touji said, as he  
shifted Shinji's weight. "That must be them now." He nodded towards  
a plume of dust rising form the direction of the command center.  
  
The Nerv jeep reached the Evas just as they were getting to the  
bottom of Unit 02's leg. Hyuga was driving and Maya and Hikari were  
sitting in the back. Hikari had her arms around Pen Pen who was  
looking decidedly board with the whole affair.  
  
"My god! He survived?!" Maya exclaimed upon see in the sleeping  
Shinji.  
  
"Hikari?" Touji exclaimed, "what are you doing here?"  
  
"You didn't think I was going to leave you behind did you?" she  
said.  
  
"Happy reunions later people," Hyuga said, sounding frustrated.  
"right now we have to get out of here."  
  
In short order Touji and Asuka had clambered into the Jeep and  
they were under way. A new plume of dust rising as they speed towards  
the reinforced tunnel. They had rested the sleeping Shinji across the  
back seat with his head upon Asuka's lap. It didn't seem she was  
going to let him go any time soon.  
  
  
  
Nerv staff dashed through the corridors, less than a step below  
panic as the evacuation proceeded. By now every on in the base had  
been notified and almost all were making their way directly towards  
the evac trains and reinforced tunnels.  
  
Two medical staff: a nurse and an inturn, however, were going in a  
different direction, a stretcher carried between them. However when  
they got to their destination; a small room in the medical wing, the  
bed was already empty. The drips hung near by, and the monitoring  
equipment was still there as were the tape player and glasses case.  
But the coma patient was gone.  
  
Reasoning that some one else must have already gotten her out, the  
two staff dumped the stretcher and dashed back towards the exits.  
  
  
  
Back in the command center Fuyutsuki stared up at the huge screen.  
The room was quiet except for the soft sibilant voice of the Magi  
slowly marking off the final seconds. The last of the staff were either  
on the trains speeding away, or in one of the jeeps and inside the  
reinforced tunnels by now. He was probably the only living thing  
left in the base, bar the Evas of course.  
  
"six, five, four," The magi counted.  
  
"Goodbye Yui." He said softly. Then reached forward and pressed  
the large red button on the desk.   
  
  
  
Up on the surface, amongst the ruins of Tokyo 3, the ground began  
to shake. The waters of the lake began to ripple and then to steam.  
Suddenly a huge column of fire and light erupted from the center of the  
lake. In fraction of a second the fiery maelstrom swept out from the lake  
and rushed over the city's rubble. Stone and concrete were liquefied.  
Forests burnt in an instant. Hills vanished. Entire lakes flashed to  
vapour.  
  
In the Geo-Front itself, the explosion ripped out unchecked, filling the  
entire underground cavern. The remaining defence towers were  
swallowed in a wall of fire and light. The glassy black pyramid was  
annihilated in less than a moment. The three empty Evangelions were  
engulfed in a heat comparable only to the center of the sun.  
  
Mere seconds later the light and fire had passed, a huge column of  
smoke spread into the atmosphere above the massive hole where the  
lake had been. But the ground still writhed from the trauma of the  
explosion. Mountains spared by the initial impact, were torn up and  
dumped into the hole, the land split apart, and fell in upon itself, and  
still the earth shook.  
  
  
  
Eventually the tremors stopped, the earth settled. Deep beneath the  
now crushed Nerv Head Quarters, a single chamber had survived.  
There, Lilith remained, her white shroud like body still crucified to the  
red cross. Her head hung forward, the nine eyed mask maintaining an  
endless gaze on the sea of LCL.  
  
Opposite the impassive face, a young woman sat on a ruined ledge.  
Her pale blue hair reached lower than her waist. Her thin, pale body  
was clad in only a medical gown. Her glittering red eyes regarded the  
inanimate angle with a strange curiosity.  
  
Down below an old man appeared from amongst the rubble. His  
long, uncombed, brown hair and beard were streaked with grey. He  
wore the battered remains of a black Nerv uniform over a grimy red  
skivvy. Perched on his nose was a pair of squared off glasses with  
broken, yellow tinted lenses.  
  
"So," said Gendou Ikari, looking up at the young woman. "What  
now?"  
  
Rei gave him a long look before turning her eyes up towards the  
ceiling, or perhaps beyond it, to where a lone Nerv jeep emerged  
from one of the armoured access tunnels.  
  
"He has a chance now." She said. "That's all that matters."  
  
  
. THE END  
  
  
  
Author's Note: Well that's it, the whole shebang, hope you liked  
it. Please direct any questions, comments, and criticisms to my  
email address hagenclaw@icqmail.com.  
If this seemed a confusing ending, or you thought not enough was  
explained, I do have something of an epilogue I could publish, I get  
enough feedback in that direction. 


	7. Epilouge

Author: Stephen Mason Email: hagenclaw@icqmail.com  
  
See Prologue for Disclaimer.  
  
Author's note: I can't believe it, I've finished. What am I going  
to do with my life now? Eh, I'll think of something, I usually do.  
Anyway, I'd like to apologise, again, that this took so long. The  
only excuse I have is that uni slowed me down, but that's no much of  
an excuse. This was actually the hardest part of the story to write,  
I don't really know why.  
I also like to thank all the people who reviewed my work. I've  
been writing "stuff" for years, but this was my first time I've  
written something that I was letting people I didn't know read. I  
was really going out on a limb. The response was beyond anything I  
had hoped for. Thank you.  
  
Author's note: Well, here it is; the last part, the finally word,  
the Epilogue. Enjoy! : )   
  
----------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
  
  
NEON GENSIS EVANGELION  
  
THE LAZARUS PROJECT  
EPILOGUE  
  
  
  
Deep within a dim holographic chamber the 12 black monoliths of  
SEELE gaze eyelessly at the large screen. Upon it they watched a huge  
column of black smoke pour into the blue sky. At the base of the pyre  
the ground and the mountains could just be seen; shifting and sliding  
like hot wax, filling the gaping hole.  
  
SEELE 07: "There is word from the Okinawa observatory. A natural  
earthquake has also struck the region, 8 on the scale, probably  
triggered by the detonation of the cluster mine.  
SEELE 04: "My god, It's all gone."  
SEELE 09: "The Evas may have survived."  
SEELE 03: "There is only a 0.634% chance that the Evas and Lilith  
would have survived both the impact and the quake. "  
SEELE 06: "Everything we had worked for. Everything."  
SEELE 11: "Why Fuyutuski? We thought you understood."  
SEELE 05: "We should have never trusted one so close to Ikari."  
SEELY 03: "Can nothing be salvaged?"  
SEELE 08: "There is no contingency in the scrolls for this."  
SEELE 12: "We have squandered our last chance."  
SEELE 09: "What about you Keel?"  
SEELE 05: "Yes, you led us to this debacle Keel. What do you have to  
say?"  
  
With a hollow click the monolith bearing SEELE 01 on it  
disappeared. It was replaced by the hunched form of an old man, his  
eyes masked by a heavy visor and his hands folded into an almost  
prayer-like position if front of him.  
  
"As soon as the quake ceases, survey and salvage teams will be  
sent to the site of Nerv." Said Keel, his visored face revealing no  
emotion. "It is true that we can no longer look to the scrolls for  
direction, but we are not without means. And besides, we are still  
the most powerful organization in the world."  
  
SEELE 04: "As you well know Keel, you can keep something alive for a  
very long time but once it is dead, no power on earth can bring it  
back"  
SEELE 05: "Yes Keel, I believe you have finally lost your great  
gamble. Perhaps Seele will survive it, perhaps not."  
  
With another hollow click the monolith bearing SEELE 05,  
disappeared.  
  
"This meeting is adjourned. Goodnight gentleman." Said Keel. The  
other monoliths disappeared simultaneously leaving Keel alone in the  
darkness. With a sigh he lowered his head and then he too vanished.  
  
  
  
  
With a thump Asuka slammed her foot into the wall. "That Baka!"  
she yelled. A nurse coming down the hallway took one look at the  
enraged red head and went the other way. "Doesn't he understand it  
isn't his fault! We don't blame him! Arrge, he is just so..." She  
drove her foot into the wall a second time, causing the windows to  
rattle satisfactorily. The four of them were in the hall outside  
Shinji's hospital room; Touji, Kenskue, and Hikari were sitting in  
the bench seats beside the wall on which Asuka was venting her anger.  
  
"Asuka," Touji started, but she cut him off.  
  
"You can keep that big mouth of yours shut!" She snarled. "You  
were the one who had to go and tell him everything. You knew he was  
going to react like this!"  
  
Touji glared at Asuka. "We've been avoiding his questions since he  
woke up," he said, trying to control his own temper. "We couldn't do  
that forever. He had to know sooner or latter. Better that it should  
come from one of us."  
  
"And now he's not seeing anyone. Well, we'll see about that."  
Asuka spun around and hauled open the door to Shinji's room.  
  
"Asuka, wait." Hikari implored but her friend had already slammed  
the door behind herself. For long moments the three of them sat  
listening to the muffled voices coming from the hospital room until at  
last they went ominously quiet.  
  
Kenskue sighed and pushed his tinted glasses back up his nose.  
"Alas poor Shinji, I knew him well." He said.  
  
"Shutup Kenskue." Hikari and Touji said in unison.  
  
  
  
  
Asuka slammed the door behind herself and stopped. She had stormed  
in here with the full intent of bringing Shinji to his senses, only  
now, she wasn't sure how to do it. For a moment she just looked at  
him; he wasn't the same ragged figure she had pulled from the entry  
plug little over a month before. He had been tidied up; he was shaved,  
his hair had been trimmed to shoulder length, and he had been steadily  
putting weight back on. Right now he was sitting up in the bed, his  
hands clasped listlessly in his lap, his wide eyes staring blankly at  
the back wall.  
  
"Get out." He rasped. He didn't look away from the wall.  
  
"Shinji," Asuka started, taking one step forward.  
  
"Get Out!" this time he shouted.  
  
"No!" she yelled back. "You have to understand..."  
  
"What I understand is that people are dead and it's my fault."  
This time he looked at her. "Karou, Rei, all the others. God, Misato."  
His voice caught on the last word and he lowered his head.  
  
"You Baka, that wasn't you fault."  
  
"Wasn't it?" he demanded. "It was my Eva, I was in the pilot's  
seat. Even if I don't remember a thing, I'm still the one to blame.  
All I can do is destroy things, all I can do is hurt people. I'm  
nothing but a monster."  
  
"It was an accident Shinji. Urggh. Why can't you see that? If the  
blame lies anywhere, it lies with the idiots who built those dam  
Things in the first place."  
  
"What about you Asuka?" he countered. "Touji told me about it.  
Wasn't it terrible? All those years being the only Eva pilot. Having  
to fight every day. How many times were you put in the hospital  
because of me, how many times were you hurt?"  
  
Asuka grabbed his shoulders and wrenched him around to face her.  
"And I'd do it all again just to get you back." She said.  
  
Shinji looked up at her, the distress seeming to wash out of his  
face to be replaced by a sort of awe. Asuka drew a shuddering breath,  
trying to calm down. "Shinji, listen to me." She continued in a softer  
voice. "We can't change what has happened and you can't blame  
yourself. I know. We have to take things from today onward, live our  
lives now, rather than dwelling in the past. I don't want ever to  
lose you again."  
  
Quickly she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him fiercely,  
burying her face in his thin shoulder. For a moment Shinji just sat  
there with his arms limp by his side, staring wide-eyed over her  
shoulder. At last he moved; returning the hug with what limited  
strength his fragile arms had.  
  
"Thank you, Asuka." Shinji said, pressing his face against her  
neck. "Thank you."  
  
  
  
  
Ritsuko Akgai stood at the edge of the cracked, melted tarmac. She  
was wearing a blue shirt and a black dress, her lab-coat discarded  
before she came here. She appeared to have died her hair. A few paces  
to her left stood Touji. They didn't look at each other, choosing  
instead to gaze out at the valley in front of them.  
  
The valley was a large, shallow bowl, the floor carpeted in short  
green grass occasionally interrupted by spires of blackened rock. In  
the middle was a large round lake, its waters a surprisingly clear  
blue. Here and there small bushes and young saplings had sprung up.  
Beside the ruined road on which the two of them stood was a rusted,  
lopsided sign with 'Tokyo Three' just barely visible on it.  
  
"You could hardly believe what it looked like a few months ago."  
Touji said at last.  
  
"Or a few years." Retisuko sighed and turned to face him, "I  
suppose you want some answers."  
  
"Yeah, it took me some time to track you down, and then you would  
only agree to meet out here. After all the problem my friends and I  
have been through with Nerv we deserve some answers."  
  
"I've had to keep my head down since the evacuation. Those higher  
up, above Nerv, were looking for someone to blame, and with the  
commanders dead... Anyway, what do you want to know?"  
  
"The Eva's were built to fight the Angles, but they had another  
purpose right?"  
  
"They were a part of the Instrumentality Project, using a number  
of Evas and Unit 01 or any Eva, the Lance and Lilith, third impact  
could have been caused, only instead of simply destroying the world,  
as a third impact caused by the Angels would have, the souls of  
mankind would have been melded into single whole, a god born of  
humanity."  
  
"That's pretty screwed up."  
  
Retisuko smiled. "I suppose it was." She said.  
  
"What about the 17th and what did he have to do with Unit three,  
and the mass-produced Eva's?"  
  
"The 17th Angel was almost human, it was both his strength and his  
weekness. He also possessed the most powerful AT field we ever  
detected. The dummy plugs used clone bodies to replace the pilot.  
SEELE, the council governing Nerv, cloned the 17th and used those  
bodies in the dummy plugs for Evas five through to thirteen."  
  
"So how does that relate to Unit three?"  
  
"Unit 03 had an extensively damaged core. The dummy plugs from the  
mass-produced Evas were used to repair it. So part of the 17th Angel  
was inside your Eva. With out those dummy plugs the Lazarus project  
could never have proceeded."  
  
"Well that explains a few things."  
  
"That's it in a nutshell. If you want the full details," she said  
pulling out a small disk and tossing it to him. "they're in there. Of  
course, none of it matters now. It's the past; buried."  
  
"Yeah," Touji agreed, looking out at the valley. "I suppose it  
is. What are you going to do now?"  
  
"I think I'll clear out of the country until it all blows over.  
Maybe I'll go to Australia, that would be the last place they would  
look. Well good bye."  
  
Touji waited behind after Ritsuko drove off. He stood quietly,  
looking out over the valley as he fingered the small disk. When he  
finally moved it was to throw the disk to the ground and step on it,  
hard.  
  
  
  
  
The sound of the train clattering alone the tracks was overlaid by  
the soft hubbub of the passengers. Shinji Ikari sat quietly in one  
seat. He was wearing a simple blue shirt and dark pants. His hair was  
still long, tied loosely at the nape of his neck. Asuka liked it that  
way. The headphones he was wearing stretched down to a new Sdat player  
that was clipped to his belt. The original was probably buried  
somewhere. He wasn't listening to the same track over and over, rather  
he was listen to a disk Asuka had given him.  
  
Life hadn't been too difficult since he left the hospital. He had   
inherited his father's modest fortune; it was amazing what the  
commander of Nerv had accumulated over the years. It was odd to think  
about his father now. He was gone, dead he supposed, and yet Shinji  
didn't feal anything. Not sadness, not remorse, not even happy he was  
gone. When he though about the others he had lost; Misato, Rei, Karou;  
that hurt, a deep pain inside his chest. But his father; nothing.  
  
His biggest problems were coming to terms with what had happened,  
and dealing with losing three years of his life. Asuka had made it her  
personal quest to see that he didn't drown in self-pity. She was  
surprisingly sensitive, when she wasn't losing her temper. They had  
grown closer and closer in the past months; he wasn't sure, but he  
thought he was in love with her.  
  
Shinji was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he barely noticed  
the train draw into the station and the crowd shifting, letting people  
off. He was broken from his reverie buy one of these passengers  
bumping into his legs and nearly, but not quite falling over.  
  
"Sorry." Said the soft voice of the girl who had bumped him.  
  
"No, my fault." Shinji said automatically, drawing his legs back  
against the seat. He barely looked up at her as she passed, noticing  
only that she wore a simple black dress and had long, pale blue hair.  
After a few moments the rest of the details registered in his mind and  
his eyes widened.  
  
Leaping to his feet Shinji scanned the crowd. Catching a glimpse  
of blue hair at the far end of the carriage he began to force his way  
between the other passengers. After a number of excuses and apologies  
he made it to where he had seen her, but she was no longer there.  
  
With a solid clunk the train doors closed and the carriage  
lurched into motion again. Shinji pushed his way to the doors and  
stared out through the glass. He thought he saw someone on the  
platform with blue hair but they disappeared into the crowd before he  
was sure.  
  
Shinji exhaled sharply and lent up against the doors. It couldn't  
have been, he decided, it must just have been someone who looked like  
her.  
  
  
  
  
Deep within the dim holographic chamber the remaining four black  
monoliths, bearing the white letters of SEELE gaze eyelessly at each  
other.  
  
SEELE 08: "It would seem that our mistakes have finally caught up to  
us."  
SEELY 03: "Indeed, The world no longer needs us."  
SEELE 05: "Even you must admit defeat now Keel. This council can no  
longer be maintained."  
SEELE 01: "Indeed it cannot. Goodbye gentlemen."  
  
The monoliths bearing the numbers 03 and 05 disappeared and after  
a moment the entire infinite darkness of the chamber began to  
dissolve. The room revealed was a plushly appointed office with huge  
windows along one wall. In the ceiling the small holographic nodes  
that had created the chamber could only just be seen. Eventually the  
shrouds of the remaining two monoliths were striped away with the last  
of the blackness. Behind one was a tall, thin man with a hooked nose.  
Behind the other was Keel. He was seated at his large, black desk, a  
myriad of cables and tubes leading from the back of his chair to  
several large computers and medical machinery hunched in one corner  
of the office.  
  
"Seele is dead Keel." Said the hooked nosed man. "Our plans are as  
dust on the wind. The perfection that was foretold in the scrolls, the  
perfection that third impact would have brought, will never be. But  
life goes on. Humanity will have to find its own destiny now." With  
that the man turned and left Keel alone.  
  
For long moments the old man stared at the door through his visor.  
After a while he sighed. "Then this really is the end." He said.  
  
The End  



End file.
